One Heck Of A Life
by Salem'sDarkness
Summary: The time is of Modern Day Man and the Three have been reborn on the earth. They must create human identities and find allies, for ancient enemies seek them. Please R&R! ITS CHAPTER 19! Yay!
1. In The Beginning

Well, this is my first story so, yeah. Umm... well, as I said before, please R&R and not too many flames...They burn ^_^. Thanx. Oh yeah, I'd just like to say that I've read pretty much almost all the Diablo fanfics and they're all cool and praise to the diablo fanfic writers! ^_^. Please tell me which character you like the best in your reviews. Thankies. Now, on with the story! (Oh yeah, and I may have changed the true storyline of Diablo to my whims). I love Baal! I am strange...

Disclaimer: I hope I am doing this right. Um... All Diablo related stuff belongs to Blizzard and the Moogles belong to Final Fantasy.

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Our story begins in the times of old, when the monstrous sovereign triumvirate of Hell, known solely together as the Three, were cast out from their thrones by their traitorous minion warlords Belial and Azmodan. There on the mortal plane, the Three- Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal- were sealed in their SoulStones by the hands of human warriors and forgotten at the ends of the earth. And so they rested, secretly garnering power within the confines of their stones. Now it is years later, the time of modern day man (don't ask me how Santuary became America) and three days after the Three have been set loose upon the world again...

A teenage male is seen staggering along an unusually hot road on an unusually hot day under an unusually hot er.. sun. His hair is black and spiked, and loose clothes fit his body. His shirt is black with white sleeves and, upon closer inspection, his nails are perfect and seemingly clawlike. Blood is lightly smeared on his face from various, harmless cuts that come from a reincarnation, which he quickly wipes away.

'Ah, the taste of freedom,' he thinks as he saunters down the pavement of a quiet neighborhood. The very air around him swirls with the anticipation of death and all the birds are quiet on their perches. Yet still, he is too weak to embark on a journey to find his lost brothers.

This particular sidewalk is deserted, save for two teenage girls strolling along , heading into the unexpected path of the boy. One is a short-haired blonde and the other possesses long, black hair; both are pale and wear black outfits with striped long-sleeved shirts. Both look up as one and notice the other limping towards them, blood seeping down his arms.

"Hey, are you hurt?" asks the blonde one.

The wounded teenager looks up. Startled by such contact, he tests the human language. "N-not really."

"I know first-aid, ya' know," says the girl more towards her friend now. "Why don't you come with us and we'll fix up you up."

"Are you sure this is safe?" whispers the raven-tressed one.

"Yeah, yeah. We can just help him- you know, do a good deed an' all- and then he'll be on his way.

The other rolls her eyes and nods. "Okay. He doesn't look too good anyway..." She turns to him. "Come with us."

The wounded demon hesitates, deciding his options. 'Hmm... With human pawns such as these, I'll find my brothers in no time,' he thinks as he walks over to the duo. They begin walking again. 

"I'm Kyra,"smiled the blonde to his left.

"Salem," nodded the charcoal-haired one to his right.

They both stare at him, waiting. 'What're they waiting for? My name? Er... my name. Hmm, let's see now. Nope, if I go ahead and announce my true demon name, I'll be exposed!' he thinks furiously. He nervously glances around. Just down the road, there is a busy street, but further past the road there is an odd sort of 'cathedral' with a sign posted on it saying, "McBrian's Steakhouse Buffet." (Note that the Three's brains are medievalistic minds in modern-day civilization. Quickly, the befuddled demon absorbed more knowledge of the English language from the bouncy blonde one without her knowing

of it.

"B-Brian's the name," he says.

"Oh!" says Kyra. "Cool! Hey where do you live?"

Brian looks around, obviously not possessing enough time to think of such details about his new 'character' in the world. Luckily, when he opened his mouth to speak, the chatterbox human cut him off, pointing to an old, decrepit-looking house. "We live over there," she says cheerfully. He glances right to the other to seek any assurance that Kyra wouldn't talk him to death. Instead, when their eyes meet, Salem instantly turns her head away and Brian couldn't shake the feeling that something important had occurred, though he didn't know what exactly. He shrugs as they make their way to the house.

Upon entering, another, longer-haired blonde greets them from a dilapidated couch situated across from an odd electrical box that he identified as a 'television' from Kyra's memory bank.

"Who's this," the other blonde, wearing a black shirt with netted sleeves, camouflage-print pants, and boots, looks at him. 

"Brian. He's wounded so I thought I'd help him," exclaims Kyra. "Oh yeah, this is Rika," she say to him.

Rika nods warily on cue.

Brian slowly follows the two girls into a strangely decorated lavatory. Kyra rummages behind a mirror for their medical kit and began 'operating' on the demon's wounds...

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Yeah, okay. So nothing quite interesting went on right now but it'll get better. Oh yes, could I get some help from a few other writers? ^_^ I tried to be original... 


	2. Living The Human Life

Well, my second part of the story should be a little more interesting as I am just getting started. ^_^ Yeah anyways, as I said before, if you review could you please tell me which character is the best 'cause it's based on my real friends and we're betting on which one it'll be. ^_^ Thanx! Now back to the story!

Disclaimer: All Diablo stuff belongs to the wizards of Blizzard and all the moogles belong to Squaresoft ppl.

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*A pink moogle suddenly walks up and says, "Day 2, Kupo."*

(Hint: They are telling the setting!)

It was on the next day that Brian, never sleeping a minute into the night, decided to begin the search for his brothers early in the morning. Learning almost everything there was to know about the modern world by secretly absorbing information from the slumbering, talkative blonde, he asks the already awake Salem 'where he could search for a lost friend'.

"Well, you could try the phone book if they're in town," she says, pausing from cooking Belgian waffles to hand him the large book.

He uncertainly flips through the pages, eyes scanning the full content of every page at an inhuman pace. The smell of syrup, a new smell, fills his lungs as he sighs and closes the book. Of course he wouldn't find his brother's names in this 'phone book', he reasoned. Names like Mephisto and Diablo would be too obvious to be shown in such manuscripts as these if ever a mage's eyes should fall upon this particular tome. (Note that mages are the Three's main human threats). Besides, Brian knew not how many more of these books there were in such a new time as this and plus, he knew nothing of the kind of names they would choose for a disguise. 'Perhaps Damien or Lucifer would be too obvious?' he asks himself.

"Here you go," Salem says from behind him.

He turned and questionably received a plate upon which sat the odd food she had been cooking earlier.

"I didn't know how much syrup you wanted, so- it's over there if you need it."

"What is this?" he says.

"A waffle, silly. Belgian-style." She exposes her wrist to glance at her watch. "And Kyra should be here in 3.. .2... 1..."

"Waffles?! I LOOVE waffles!!" Kyra raced into the kitchen, plate in hand.

'Ah, so this Salem is a time sorceress eh?' Brian silently contemplates as the skinny blonde runs around him to get syrup. Studying Kyra, the demon offers to do as she did, pouring the thick, viscous molasses onto his waffle and sitting down. He ate slowly, unaccustomed to the syrup's sweet taste that was so different from human flesh and blood, as Rika tiredly got a plate. 'Well, I guess I'm stuck here for awhile.'

*The moogle walks up to the screen saying, "Later, kupo."*

(That means it is later in the day if you're still not getting it.)

"Well, I'm off to the mall. Catch ya' later biscuit- muncha's!: says Kyra in her sugar-induced hyperness as she steps out the front door.

The two others waved her off as the disguised demon lord sat secluded in the living room. 'Perhaps I can contact my brethren with this,' thinks Brian as he reaches for a nearby phone, recalling how Rika had been talking into it earlier. He picks it up and adjusts it near his ear as he had seen and punches in a few numbers.

"Brotherhood of the Utterly Psychotic People, Bob here. How can I help ya'?"

"Brothers?" Brian asks.

"Yes. Here we are all brethren."

"What?!"

"I'm afraid you sound lost my brother-"

"I am not your brother!"

"-council meetings are held Tuesdays at eight-"

"Urg. Mortal fool!"

"Well, if you're be like that sir-"

Brian slams the phone where he'd taken it from and held it away as if it were something holy.

"What are you doing Brian?" Rika surprises him.

"N-nothing," he says, quickly wrenching his fingers form the machine.

'Urg. Still no sign of them and I am eating wa-fulls. I feel as if my demonic resilience is slipping...'

*The moogle turns sideways and says, "Later, later, kupo."*

Brian felt an instinctive growl curl in his throat as the doorbell rings. It is night and the ringing rouses the demon from his thoughtful silence on the couch. He taps a clawed finger on the couch arm, staring at the TV advertising a strange, silver, 'caravan' called a Volvo, which confused him because he thought they were called 'cars'.

" I'm hoooome!" calls Kyra from the door. "And lookie what I found!"

Brian, too indulged in his thoughts, shrugs and thinks the blonde was as crazy as the Berserker demons he ruled over.

"You brought another person?!" shouts Salem.

"Oh boy...' sighs Rika.

"Yeah well, she says she's homeless and-"

"No. She's gotta' go. We already have someone in our care," states Salem.

"B-But that's not fair! You liked him!"

"I... I-I uh, do not!"

"Uh-huh," says Kyra somewhat triumphantly. "That's what I thought."

The demon lord had no idea what they were talking about. He changes the channel absently, it's luminous face now turned to a church channel.

"Yeah well first of all, she's not homeless and secondly, she's my sister."

"Oh."

"Go home Selena," Salem commands.

A young, innocent voice sounded in the kitchen where the girls had progressed to. "Mommee says I can stay wish you."

"Arg. Fine."

Strange how, as Brian shifts to see them in the kitchen, the word "Mephisto" rings from the TV and catches his attention. Turning up the volume, he sees a tall, robed man with long, raven-dark hair tied back, falling down the track of his spine. The slim figure's eyes, seemingly pupiless, glow with fervor as he delivers a moving speech, cajoling the audience to worship a different entity.

'Mephisto?' Brian chuckles a little to himself, the TV's loud voice drowning out those in the kitchen. 'He's at it again, trying to convert people to worship him. Just like old times.' He tries a more serious approach to his thoughts. 'Hmmm, now how and where to find him...' He turns and looks at the TV one last time before getting up and going to the kitchen. 'Geez, what has he done to his hair?'

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Well, that's the end of the second chapter. I'm about to have a hand cramp so... MOnKeyS!!!   
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Eyes Of Terror

The time has come for the third chapter of One Heck Of A Life!! Yay!! Don't forget! R&R! Thankies! Should I continue the story?

Disclaimer: *sigh* All Diablo related stuff belongs to Blizzard and the Moogles belong to Final Fantasy.

* * *

*The moogle is startled to see a black creature with wings and pupilless eyes, an imp. The moogle says, "Day 3, kupo. What the heck is that, kupo?!"*

The next day, Kyra comes home waving a paper in both Salem's and Rika's face.

"Carnival!" she shouts in a childish voice.

"No", comes the same answer at the same time.

"Carnival!"

"No!"

"Oh please?!"

"Nuh-uh."

"B-but... Selena wants to go!"

"Yeah. I wanna' go," says the short, little girl that Brian recognized as Salem's sister. Her black hair was cut short and she boldly walks around Brian, a stranger to her, as if she owned the 

house.

"Okay," Rika and Salem said.

"Well, go get ready and we'll go today," Salem said more to Selena than anyone else.

"Really? Yay!" Selena 's eyes light up as she bounds toward's Salem's room where she was allowed to keep her belongings.

Reading once more the mind of Kyra for the information on what a 'carnival' was, Brian receives the visions of roaring tigers, dancing bears, sodden-faced clowns with wads of bright make-up plastered on their sweaty faces, balloons, popcorn, and a large, yellow tent. He shudders from all the bright colors and the laughter of children in those memories.

"Come on Brian, we're going now," says Rika.

"Yeah Brainy-head," says Selena.

"It's Brian," says Salem, rather annoyed as they head out.

*The imp takes the stage and says, "Uhh... At the carnival...kupo..."*

It had been Brian's first car ride in an automobile. The ride had made him queasy and had him questioning why humans would use such slow transportation instead of just using a teleportation spell. Selena had bounced in her seat the entire length of the trip which added to his sickness.

The main 'big-top' tent was just as he had seen in those memories. The entire fairgrounds are packed with men, women, children, and vehicles all cluttered in a crammed area. Joyous, musical tunes permeate the air with a strange humming and the scent of cotton candy fills Brian's senses. 'So unaware of the evil that now walks among them,' thinks the demon lord. 

*The moogle says, "Later at the carnival kupo!"

It is now evening, when the lights outline the rides and food stands and the faces of many. The stars hang faintly above the clouds, as if a watchful audience.

Salem, eating away at the soft texture of cotton candy from a paper cone, stands away in the throngs of people in the 'game alley', watching Kyra and Rika teaching Brian how each game worked and giving him a few tries as well. She giggles when he threw the first ball, aiming to hit three bottles off of a stand, and throws it too lightly, knocking only one. The second time, he throws it with incredible force that makes both assisting girls plus the game manager flinch, and knocks not only the three targets, but the also every other in the stall. He receives two large plush toys, one a bear, the other a snake. He looks as if he has no clue of what to do with them. Kyra and Rika whisper to him but Salem can't understand what they are saying.

"Hey Brian," whispers Rika. "Why don't you go over there and give those to Salem."

"Yeah, say' It's for you' too," states Kyra.

"But don't tell her that we said anything."

"Okay," Brian says, then stalks through the crowds towards Salem, who is startled when he comes.

"Hey uh... These are for you," he says, not understanding the point of this act.

"Uh...t-thanks," Salem stutters.

Soon Rika rushes up to the two. "Sorry to interrupt but...where's Selena?"

"Holy crap!" The raven-tressed girl shouts, drawing passerby eyes. "We gotta find her!"

"Well where would she most likely be?"

Noticing the absence of the young one too, the demon sighs and feels helpless in the matter, unable to conduct a tracking spell due to the risk of exposure...and a lack of power from the recent reincarnation.

Salem paced back and forth, thinking furiously. "The Freak Show!!!" And she took off instantly with Rika.

Brian bolts after, insuring he would not lose his human pawns, with Kyra not too far behind. The crowds of humans easily move from the two's path as they make their way to an oddly decorated tent. It was smaller than the main tents and it's visage depicted twisted, abstract forms of muscular men, odd creatures and faces upon which many emotions were played. The paintings send a shiver of nostalgia through Brian while Kyra shudders in fear. She follows him anyway.

The interior of the tent is washed in a dim, red glow, making shadows play odd tricks on the eye. There is a path winding away, towards the back of the tent, in a serpent-like manner, lined with cages and exhibits on either side. In grimly sketched letters the words 'FrEAk sHOw' are on a sign, marking the beginning of the path and plastic plaques are set near each cage. They say things like "The Ultra Strong Man" and "Medusa, The Serpent Lady". The two pass by multitudes of weirdos clad in glossy, strange garments posing and taunting the crowd. Soon, someone screams and the lady who had been shrieking barrels right out of the tent in a flash.

"Was it just me or did that lady look terribly frightened?" Kyra says faintly. "That's it, I'm outta' here-"

"No, wait. We mustn't lose them," he says seriously, placing a clawed hand on her shoulder. She doesn't leave and follows after the taller figure. As they walk by the first of cages, three teenagers run out, one clawing at her hair screaming about spiders, another shouting, "No! I didn't kill no on! Honestly!" and the last one wailing into the night, "Please! Don't let me fall! The heights! I CAN'T STAND THE HEIGHTS!!!"

The fear flickering in the eyes of those kids caused the demon to wonder what of these strange people would spark such wonderful fear. He shrugs an, as they advance further, hears shouts in Salem's familiar voice.

"I told you to stay!"

"But you were just watching stinky Brainy-head and I gots bored. Besides, I gots me a new fwiend."

The two round the corner and see Salem, Rika - who gives an 'I'm innocent' shrug'- and Selena. They stand in front of a cage shouting at each other. A plaque near the cage states "The Eyes Of Terror." Upon closer inspection, there is a teenage boy wearing baggy pants akin to Brian's and a sleeve-less white shirt with a crown of blond hair on his head that comes down from his scalp in long streaks. Kyra went over to Rika and the shouting sisters while Brian goes over to the plque to read what was so special about a boy sitting in a chair with his head downcast.

'Dorozan, Possessor of the Eyes of Terror. Take one look into his gaze and meet your greatest fears,' was all it said. Brian tries to look at the skinny boy's eyes to see if such was true but the other seems asleep. Upon entering the tent, he had conducted a magical energy scan on each 'freak' and had come to the conclusion that all were human. Yet this one is different, possessing an odd yet still mortal power level.

A small group of people wind their way towards the group of friends, studying each exhibit. When they got to where Brian stood, the more rude, juvenile ones of the gathering begin to tap on the glass of the 'Eyes Of Terror' cage to attract the occupant's attention. Brian watches curiously. The boy fidgets, then in an instant, jerks his head upwards, his eyes glowing a crimson glow like the overhead lights. The group do not see his eyes but instead see visions more terrifying than the next, and each vision molded around the particular fears of each person. They all flee back towards the entrance, limbs flailing and tears strolling down cheeks. 

Brian does not see any visions.

* * *

Okay. That's the end now so now my fingers can have some rest. The pain!!!

  
  



	4. Of Imps And Moogles

Hey! Thanx to all the people who have currently reviewed! ^_^ Okay. I still have yet to introduce the Archangels and for our main bad guys, Azmodan and Belial will make their entrance sometime in the next chapters. :P And finally you will know who Brian is so you can now lay your superstitions to the grave. Yeah, it's gonna' be a looong story. Heh. It's just something I'll wanna' work on when I'm bored. ^_^

Disclaimer: As I said before, all Diablo stuff belongs to the Blizzard guys and the moogles are strictly under the sovereign rule of SquareSoft.

* * *

The one titled Dorozan stares straight at Brian, then his face takes on a confused look. Brian shrugs at him to indicate that he had no idea of what was supposed to happen. Dorozan gets up and opens his mouth to say something, then stops himself and holds up his index finger, mouthing "Wait." He goes through a back door hidden in the painted scenery for the exhibit. After a few seconds, he reappears from the back of the tent, wiping a kerchief on his forehead 

"Well, who exactly is this friend of yours?" asks Salem.

"Him!" Selena points with a tiny finger at the figure entering from the back.

"Ugh. You know you're not supposed to talk to strangers."

"Hey," says Dorozan says in a cool, crisp voice.

Kyra, standing by, overhears the conversation and takes the opportunity to say a few words. "Hey, are you Dorozan from that cage?"

"Heh. I prefer Derek, miss..."

"Kyra. Just Kyra." She giggles. "But aren't you supposed to be in there?"

"Nah. I'm off for the rest of the day. Oh, and you are?"

"Brian," he says, studying Derek and never breaking eye contact with the other.

"Ah. Pleased to meet you," Derek shakes hands with Brian, and the dark-haired guy notices that the other's hand is smooth and the fingernails were claw-like.

"So...how do you do it?" says Kyra.

"Do what?" asks Derek hesitatingly breaking eye contact.

"You know! The 'Eyes of Terror," she says in a mock spooky voice and wiggles her fingers.

"Oh that. Well it's uh...all just magi-er...special effects," he says smiling. She gazes at him, absorbing every word.

"So uh... where do ya' live?"

"Eh, here with the carnival. Wherever it goes."

"Ah, well, Salem here-"

"Nuh-uh. Nooo..." replies Salem, pushing her little sister towards the group.

"But he's ma' fwiend," intervenes Selena, holding Salem's plush prizes.

"Ugh."

"Can we go now?" Rika pops into the conversation.

"Yup. And Derek's going with us."

"Who?"

"Him," says the little girl at their feet.

"Whatever," Salem gives up. "We're gonna' go broke by the end of the month if we keep this up, Kyra," she says, directing it towards her.

'Hmmm... This monetary thing does not bode well. Perhaps I shall increase the currency they possess, lest we 'go broke', thinks Brian. 'But first, I must know who this new human is...'

*The moogle shuffles and says, "Nighty night, kupo!"*

After Derek had consulted with his superiors and quit the job saying, "Eh. They didn't pay enough and I was planning to do so ever since my first paycheck," the group rode off back home. Proper introductions and tours of the house were performed on Derek's behalf. Soon the heaviness of the night made them bone-weary, yet Brian did not sleep. He had claimed the couch and had noticed that Derek occupied the kitchen table.

And neither slept...

*The imp goes over and pokes the moogle's pom-pom and the moogles says,"Day 4, kupo. Don't touch the pom-pom kupo!"*

"So, do you believe in demons?" asks Brian warily, trying not to give away that he himself was a demon.

"Actually, yeah, I do," replies Derek over a mug of coffee.

The two were sitting together at the kitchen table while the girls were busy; Selena playing a video game and the others gone out to get food, leaving them in charge of the little one.

"Listen," says Brian leaning closer, "Who are you really? What do you want here?"

"I only need a home. I want to know the same of you also. You don't look much of the groupie type. Tell ya' what. How about I let you in on a little secret," he leans back on the chair, "and you tell me what you're here for."

"'Kay."

"But if it leaks out, I'm afraid that your life won't be pleasant...or I could just kill you." Derek frowns because he doesn't get the response he was opting for.

"Sounds fair. Deal."

"Well, fact is... I'm a demon."

"Really now," Brian says smirking, finding it wasn't quite hard to believe. "So, do you by any chance serve those by the name of Azmodan or Belial perhaps?"

Derek's eyes widen in recognition. "What?!" he whispers now, as if afraid someone might hear.

"Ah hah! Who are you?"

The blond-haired boy sighs. "If you must know, I am Diablo, Lord of Terror and I serve no such paltry, betraying fools ever to be called warlords. Yet you would not understand."

"Actually, I believe I would," relief welled up in him.

"Wha-B-Baal?"

Brian nods, glad to have found someone with whom he could associate. Now, he wouldn't have to face this new and strange world alone...and one more brother meant the closer their purpose was going to be fulfilled. This new world and their's would be reconquered. The demon recalled a saying from Kyra's memory.

'What a small world after all...'

*The moogle has a mallet but the imp insists on poking him. The moogle shouts, "Later, kupo. Don't make me hurt you kupo!"*

It was remarkable to Salem how quickly the guys had changed over a short period of time. At first, she had noticed some distant hostility between the two, but now it seemed as though they had known each other for more than a thousand years. They even claimed that they were brothers, though they looked nothing alike, but that could be explained.

She smiles as she carries in a bag full of edibles and groceries, followed by Rika and Kyra doing the same. Selena runs up and greets them while the guys sit on the couch, staring intently at the TV. Kyra goes into the kitchen while Salem and Rika place their bags on the dining table. Suddenly, Kyra shrieks in the kitchen.

The two females rush into the kitchen while Selena stares in the direction of the sound and the guys lift their heads to peek into the kitchen.

"What is it?!" Rika and Salem shout.

"Lookie at da' cute squirrels!!!"

They look but what they see doesn't exactly fit the universal description of a 'squirrel'. The things that crawled before them had two bulbous, pupiless orbs for eyes and totally black bodies crafted in the forms of snakes, lizards, bats, birds, or fish that hovered in the air; some creatures possessed tiny, bat-like wings. They slithered and writhed and crawled, all glaring up at Kyra.

"Wow. There's quite a lot of you little guys. Hmm, you must have a secret squirrel organization!"

"Erm...What are they?" says a confused Salem.

"I already told you, they're squirrels!" Kyra shouts.

"Your brain must be loose or somethin'," Rika rolls her eyes. "It feels as thought they were made of-"

"Squirrel guts!"

"No...Pure evil..."

"That's odd. But why are they in my house?" says Salem. The other two sit in thoughtful silence.

Then, Kyra runs to pick one up and the creature's body dissipates into a black smog, reforming a few seconds later.

"Whoa. Hey, well aren't you a mean lil' squirrel." She tries again but only the cold sensation lingers in her arms as she passes through it. Giving up, she puts a cup of cashews on the ground for the 'squirrels' and starts unpacking the groceries.

"Well, they look like imps to me..." says Rika.

*The moogle dances around the flattened imp, saying, "Off to church kupo!" 

"Oh, I want to be an Oscar Meyer-zzzzzzt-Eh, what's up doc?-zzzzzzt-New Kia-zzzzzt-my bologna has a first name-."

'Erg. Nothin' to watch on TV," thinks Brian, clicking through the channels by secretly useing his power, since the remote control was being elusive today.

"Hey! I know that song!" says Kyra leaning over the back of the couch. "Oh my poultry had a first name, it's B-I-N-K-Y-D-O-O-D-L-E-H-E-A-D! My poultry has a second name, it's-"

"Whoa! Stop!" shouts Rika, brushing her golden, shower-damp hair. "Don't change the channel!"

Brian severs the wave of power he had been using to change the channels.

"Experience the power of the worship of the New Times," shouts the advertisement, "right in your hometown! Several preacher services a day will be held right in this town throughout the week. Our newest priest will be giving the sermons-"

"Who's that guy?" asks Rika, staring at the TV's screen, which now switches to a shot of the man that Brian had identified as Mephisto, who's growing popularity had gotten him much success in his opposing religious views.

"You don't know who that is?" Kyra says, astounded. "That's that new preacher dude Melvin. *(Sorry, couldn't think of any other names that start with M...)* He's been all over the news stations for a whole week now! I think he's been makin' quite a reputation for his speeches, even if he is trying to convert people. I don't think it'll work though."

"That's interesting..."says Rika, as if she were talking to herself. "I got an idea. Why don't we go see what this preaching thing is all about."

"Cool."

"What's all the hubbub, bub?" says the cute voice of Selena, rubbing her eyes and yawning, having just gotten up from a small nap.

"Hey, uh. Is anyone here happen to be an international criminal or somethin', cause uh... our interest grew in the bank since last I checked," says Salem who had entered through the front door, eyes widened. She describes the recent change in their money situation and everyone sits in silence, both astonished and confused...well, the humans anyway.

"The interest rates at that bank were good, but I didn't think they were THAT good," deducts Rika. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Can we go to this sermon thing tomorrow? They're holding it right here in our hometown."

"Sure...though I've never really held you as the religious type."

"Hey! How come you didn't oppose HER when we decided to go somewhere!" yells Kyra. The two began squabbling while Rika stared at the TV.

'Great! Now's my chance to contact the last of my brothers,' thinks Brian. 'But is it just me or is Rika's temperature rising?'

* * *

Okay, that's a wrap for my newest chappy! Don't forget to say which character you like the best! Me and my friends are still bettin' on it! I choose....my character, Salem! 


	5. Do You Know What They're Saying!

Don't forget! R&R! Thankies and also, please tell me which character you like the best in the story in your review! Thank you for all the reviews so far. I finally got this story posted!! WhOOO!!

Disclaimer: All Diablo related stuff belongs to Blizzard and the Moogles belong to Final Fantasy.

* * *

The moogle takes the stage, saying, "Day 6, kupo! 

Rika awoke exceptionally early this morning, finding that the sun had not risen yet. She hops out of bed in her night gown for the kitchen to eat an early breakfast and, since it was so early, she believes that no one would be awake at this hour. But she was wrong...and someone was in the kitchen. She darts to one side of the kitchen entrance and slowly peeks her head around.

The elder brother, Brian, was speaking a language that was harsh on her ears and she had never heard it before so she believed that it was from some Third-World country or something like that. The other, Derek, whom had appeared more 'down-to-earth' to her than the former, was frying eggs on the stove. The eggs were scrambled and sizzle in the pan; the fire underneath was an odd blood-red color. Then she notices that the switches to turn the fire on were untouched.

"Fis li shi mivrnenip," says Brian (This actually DOES mean some thing ) and a few imps crawl over to where a batch of newspaper sits, trying to lift it and failing, due to their inability to touch solid objects. Brian, sitting at the table, sighs and gets up to get it himself. 'They don't even LOOK Third-Worldish,' thinks Rika.

"You should really 'cut them some slack," says Derek, his back turned to the one reading the newspaper.

"Bas shil ruli rkebj?! Xua piekkx epi dekkomf dup shes halem Kyra, epims xua?"

"Yeah well...She's not like other humans and... it's a really strange feeling... this...love."

The only word recognizable in Brian's words was 'Kyra', and from what Derek was saying, she believes that he had grown affections for her friend. She thinks that it's cute but these two new members of the house were definitely unordinary. 'But just for the sake of the peace, I shouldn't tell anyone. At least they haven't tried anything illegal or lethal yet.' She shudders at the thought of her assumptions coming true. Rika's beliefs were that supernatural forces had arrived on the mortal plane only a few days ago, but she had told no one. It had been from a dream and now that seemed very possible in reality...

The moogle sways and dances, singing, "Later, kupo."

'It's been long. Too long since I've seen my brothers. These humans, so gullible indeed, have flocked to me like sheep and I sit here unbasked in my newfound glory. Before I destroy this pitiful mortal plane and move on to war against the realms of Heaven, I shall linger here on this plane for the time being. This is so because I wish to study these strange creatures a while longer and because I haven't currently the strength to do so.'

The demon going by the name of Melvin, sighs and places the large, withered tome he had been writing in, down on his desk. It's pages are filled with many pieces of history, only two years after the earth was born was when he had begun this 'diary', and it had been hundreds of years before it had been continued. It had writings about Mephisto's experiences in things like the Renaissance, the Dark Ages, the Creation of Man (yeah, lots of important stuff with capital letters), an entry about some poor sap living in the Middle Ages that had tried to stab out one of the demon's eyes with a toothpick, going by the name of Peasant Bob, and a small piece about the spilling of a cup of milk while he was eating cookies.

Mephisto a.k.a. Melvin gets up and adjusts himself in front of a mirror. With the services over and done for the day, it was now time to meet with any fans who wished to linger and speak with him. As he makes his way out of his personal quarters inside the large, stadium-like sanctuary, the esteemed preacher was bombarded with questions from eager reporters and pleads from spectators who had begun to worship the 'entity Mephisto' that Melvin had led them to believe.

However, there was one group of humans that had caught his eye among the lingering crowd. Unlike the rest of the religious fanatics, wearing formally plain clothing, who flocked to him everyday, these were clothed in garments of black and adorned with spiked accessories. Waving off all the unwanted attention, he trots over to the small group/

"Hiya strange funky person!" says the little, black-haired child at his feet.

"Selena! Mind your manners!" says a taller female whom he notices is the older sibling. She turns to him. "I'm so sorry." She then introduces herself and the group.

"It's a pleasure to meet such an esteemed preacher," speaks Rika.

"'Pleasure's all mine," says Melvin charmingly. She smiles. He scans each member of the group for any signs of magical sources... and to his surprise, finds that the two males of the group each possesses a different energy wave length that was 1) very unhuman-like and 2) strangely familiar. They looked as if they wished to speak with him, though not in the presence of the group.

"Hey Mr.Funkyhead person," says Selena tugging at the hem of his robes, "Why are you wearing a dress?"

"Selena!!! They're called robes!"

"That's him?!" says Derek to Brian. Both are behind their human companions

"Yup."

"Whoa." Derek lowers his voice. "So, how do we ditch the girls for a few minutes?"

"Ditch???"

The younger brother sighs. "It means 'to get rid of'.'"

Baal a.k.a. Brian motions for Melvin to come over to them. The preacher nods, seeing them. He excuses himself from an interesting conversation, over those electrical boxes called computers, with Rika and Kyra...but mostly Rika. The tall priest stalks over to the two demons and says, "Can I help you two with something my brothers?" (Note that Melvin still doesn't know who these guys are yet.)

"I didn't know you knew already," says Brian.

"Knew what?"

"That you knew we knew who you are and that you knew who we were too."

Derek, standing beside Brian, starts to get a headache and, knowing his brother Mephisto was a genius, knew that he would know what Brian just said. (Ooo...confuzing, isn't it?)

Mephisto, understanding what Brian just said but not believing them, decides to test them... A simple test that only a demonic lord of the Three would be able to pass.

"If you are mages seeking the identity of any of the Three, you'd be wasting your time here. But just out of curiosity, I would like to ask you a few questions."

"Aw, c'mon bro," Derek starts to slouch, finding out that Mephisto still didn't believe tham. "You know we're not m-"

"Silence Derek. We shall take his test," says Brian confidently and Derek nods, hoping to prove their identity to the elder brother.

Mephisto stares at the two and thinks, 'It's strange. They do not possess the proper garments...but they could be undercover. They even have a different energy pattern than the rest of the humans, but all magi can have strange energies.' Knowing all there was to know about the mage practices, decides to start off with an easy question.

"First of all, what is the symbol of your order of magicks?"

"Er...uh... we have no order." The priest's eyebrow furls at this quizzical statement, since every warlock obtained an order.

"Hmm...most interesting. Second, who do you serve then?"

"We serve no one," the two say.

"Third, ooh you'll never get this one, what color are the demonic triumvirate's soulstones? Only an esteemed few have laid eyes upon them. And most are dead."

"They are the three base colors of the human visual spectrum. Red, blue, and yellow."

"Mmm...Good guess..." Melvin shrugs. "Okay. Last question... In what wing of their temples do Mephisto's younger brothers keep their tortured souls?" HE smiles but conceals his fangs. "I assure you that the answers are quite unattainable."

"Baal keeps his in the west wing," says Brian, finding it weird to speak in third-person.

"Oo!Ooo! And the greatest of them all, Diablo, has them scattered around his temples!" Derek replies.

The flustered priest's eyes widen and his jaw drops. "Diablo? Baal?! I thought you were unable to break from your soulstone's shackles," Mephisto moves them toward a more secure area were prying ears would never hear. "So I sought to free you by attaining followers and getting them to find you two."

"But we're here now, so.. can we cause the destruction of both the Heavenly and mortal realms now?" asks Brian, since is the Lord of Destruction.

"N-not yet, exactly..."

"No destruction?"

"No. We have yet to come to our full power and we should dare not shed our disguises any sooner, lest both Angel and Magi strike us down...yet again."

"Oh..." the two younger ones say.

The moogle stares at the imp approaching and says, "A little later kupo. Not you again kupo!"

"Hey guys. I don't mean rush you but people are actually starting to leave so I suggest we do too," Rika shouts to the two guys.

"Tell your humans of my decision and I shall inform my followers," Melvin says to his brothers. They nod and stalk off towards Rika.

The long drive home consists of Selena chatting to her friend Derek about 'Mr.Funkyhead, Salem driving, and Kyra explaining the cosmic phenomenon of the spontaneous generation of chocolate chip muffins. As they enter the house, little Selena was the first to notice Derek and 'Brainyhead' turn on the TV and watch the church channel. She looks at the screen and sees 'Mr.Funkyhead', as the others begin to crowd around to see.

"It is with my dearest regrets," he begins, "that I must resign my religious responsibility for temporary period of time. My reasons are my own and I will be spending my time in a place who's address will not be ungiven for the sake of my privacy from the media.."

The rest of the speech was just a long drawl of words to Selena. Being a little pyro, she pounces to the kitchen and gropes a hand around in a drawer for some matches. Finding them, she steps out into the living room, trying to be as quiet as a mouse so as not to be caught, behind everyone clustered around the couch. She instantly freezes as Salem says, "Outside, Selena," without even turning around. Pouting, she goes outside to start a fire with some sticks on the concrete driveway.

"What?! He's staying here?!" shouts her sister from inside the house. Selena looks up and shrugs.

"Well, yeah, I kinda forgot to mention that earlier..." says Brain.

"Urg."

"Cool!" shouts Rika.

"Abstinence is good fo' you..." says Kyra happily. Everyone stares at her...

* * *

Okay. I'm done! Sorry it took so long to create!! And now for weekend sleepy... Er... When the weekend comes... 


	6. Sir Loin Of Beef

Thankx for all the reviews everyone!!! I bask in my happiness!! YAY! Ewww... This ish a mushy chapter... Anyways, for the sake of Cyber -Undead, moogles are little pink teddy-bear-like things w/ big noses and a pom-pom on it's head and tiny wings! And now for the new chappy! Hi's to Ashley! Oh yeah, and magi DO exist in this story. Right now, it's their soul goal to kill the Three but ...um...I haven't revealed any yet... Don't forget to vote for your fav. character!! Yeah... Oreos!

Disclaimer: Diablo stuff is owned by Blizzard and moogles are still slaves to Squaresoft and my soul belongs to me. ME, I TELL YOU!

* * *

The imp appears and says rather blandly, "Later...uh...kupo."

The priest arrived in his limo at exactly nine o' clock, with about ten nanoseconds 'til the next second to the next minute. Rika was the first to greet him. By then the girls had found out that he too was a brother and yet none could distinguish anything similar between them. As everyone slept, the Three remain awake.

"I believe I felt a different presence enter this realm as I respawned into this world," informs Mephisto at their late-night table conversation.

"Could it be that the two warlords could be after us?" asks Diablo.

"It very well could be true, most likely seeking our destruction, but the presence I felt was one of pure essence."

Brian states, "Well, the only pansy I know who would dare come down here would be-"

"Tyrael..." Derek finishes.

"Of course the Archangel would feel us walking amongst mortal men again," Mephisto says.

"Angels are sneaky, cowardly fools so... he might try to cajole the humans from us," says Brian.

Derek shifts, uncomfortable in his human skin. "You mean Kyra, Rika, Salem, and Selena?"

"Yup."

"So we must find a way to secure the humans to us," deduces the false preacher. "Any ideas?"

"Nope..." says Brian.

"Well...uh... we could go out with them. Well, except for Selena, but she's already my friend so..."

"Go out?" asks Melvin.

"I personally do not want to go anywhere right now," says Brian.

"No, not that kind of 'go out' Baal. It means to be their...umm..." says Derek, trying to recall the information. "Their friend who is a boy...er...no... a 'boyfriend' or intentional mate. All you have to do is be nice to them an' all, but watch out if they ask you to marry them. I think that means they want to stay with you for all eternity or somethin' like that... though I don't get it 'cause humans barely surpass the age of one hundred..."

"Ick.. Sounds disgusting," Melvin states.

"That's just 'cause you're the Lord of Hatred. Lighten up Mephy."

"No. And my name is not Mephy!"

"Hmmm... Your plan sounds cool ta' me. Plus, if it's the only way, then we must," says Brian.

Outside, the sun begins to rise...

The moogle stares at the imp who is, in turn, staring at him, and says, "Recorded Day 7, kupo. Go away kupo!"

"Okay, so we have the flowers and candy and now we just have to ask them?" asks Brian shakily, not knowing why he was so jittery all of a sudden.

"Uh huh. Remember, you get Salem 'cause she already told me she liked you-" Derek turns toward Mephisto, while Brian is stunned, "-and Mephy gets Rika 'cause she has a soft spot for you too." Mephisto looks surprised and curses under his breath, just to see if he was still demonic enough to go through with this and not fall in love. "I wanna' ask Kyra 'cause she's the cutest," Derek finishes.

"Ick," the two flinch.

"I hope this works."

And so the three demonic lords of the entire Underworld trod off in search of the girls.

In Mephisto's case, Rika sits on the delapitated couch and is reading a book on the wonders of space. Though demons have no true hearts, the false preacher feels as if his pulse (if he had one) is ten times faster than normal. The female in black looks up and brushes a few stray strands of blonde hair from her face. Her legs rest on the couch's arm and she is stretched comfortably, yet she feels she must greet him in the proper fashion, so she sits up. He seats himself near her and offers her the candy and flowers. She blushes.

"Er. I was just wondering if maybe I could develop a relationship with you in the event that you acquiesce to my offer."

Rika hesitates, stuttering and taken by surprise, but answers.

"I acquiesce."

Brian went into the kitchen where Salem was cooking some type of noodles on the stove with the awaiting, hungry Selena sitting at the kitchen table. The demon clears his throat to make it known that he was there. Salem spins around and smiles.

"Hey Brian."

"Hi. Umm... Could I speak with you for a moment?"

"Yes?"

Brian, whose hands were behind his back, reveals that he is holding an odd bouquet of black roses and some chocolate and presents them to her. "Would you like to ...uh.. Go to dinner some time tonight? Say around 'seven?"

Salem's reaction is the same as Rika's and she turns around to recover a little. After a few seconds, she swivels back around. "Is that a date?"

"Ooo...Salem's godda' boyfwiend. Salem's godda' boyfwiend," chants Selena.

"Would you quit already?" says Salem, breaking out of her romantic reverie.

"Salem and Brainyhead, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-"

Before Selena could finish her taunt, the elder sister shushes her by explaining the supernatural disappearance of the soup should she continue. The small child gasps and runs out the kitchen in small strides...

For Derek... Well, let's just say the circumstances were not exactly normal.

The youngest of the evil lords of the triumvirate walks down the halls of the small-yet-soon-to-be-larger-house-due-to-the-increasing-income-spawning-from-nowhere, and sees Kyra. She is standing in front of a mirror in her nightgown and she seems to be talking to herself. Upon closer inspection, Derek notices that some of his and his brother's servants, the imps, are gnawing on her head to no effect, since they couldn't touch anything of actual solidity in their ethereal form. The only way for them to truly be able to interact in the world was to possess anything that was or resembled a living organism. However, they even had trouble with that, often acting very unlike the thing they inhabited , like bumping into walls while still thinking that they were ethereal, because they had no fully functioning brains.

"Look Derek! The squirrels have chosen me as their Almond Goddess!" she says to his reflction in the doorway on the mirror. The imps look pretty annoyed.

"Uh..yeah..Um, Kyra I was wondering if you-"

"I shall hearby dub thee Sir Loin of Beef!" the blonde, anorexic-looking girl says to the one on her head. "And ye shall be charged with the nether realms of thy pantry!"

"Er, Kyra-"

"And I shall name you Pinky Gladys Gutsman because... you are very Pinky-Gladys-Gutsmanny-like."

"Kyra!"

"Ahh!!! What? Is there a fire?!"

"No. No fire," says Derek, who steps near and mutters "Kieti ap" under his breath. The imps begin to hop down from her head and hide under her bed. "Kyra-"

Kyra whips out a piece of gum sitting on a nearby drawer and begins to chew on it, smacking loudly. After a few seconds, she blows a huge, pink bubble and it bursts on her face, just missing her hair, which had been tied up on her head.

"Well THAT was uncalled for! Wrongness!" she shouts.

Derek sighs and spends the next five minutes helping the gum-covered girl get it off her face.

"Kyra," Dereks says and she finaly turns toward him with gum still covering her nose. "What I meant to ask you was... Will you go out with me?"

Kyra bounces up and down on, maniacally screaming, "YAY!!! Really?! Okies!!!"

The moogle tries to hit the imp, saying, "Your mamma, kupo!" while the imp hold shim back by the nose saying, "Day 8, kupo."

The private dinner with Brian last night had been splendid to Salem, and she smiled at that memory as she drove the car. Today, the group is going off the mall. The plan was for the girls to and guys to form separate groups to shop, for Valentine's Day is drawing near. Since demons didn't really have actual holidays, Baal had to explain the concepts of it from Kyra's thoughts to his siblings.

The cluttered parking lot of the mall had been the third time Brian had seen such a mass of cars together. Each reminded him of great, fuming, bellowing beasts of his realm and the more he thought of it, the worse the nostalgia became. But whenever he thought over this, his demonic rage returned, eager to reclaim and conquer their world back from the grips of their traitorous warlords. 'And then they would pay...'

When Salem says, "Geez. There's almost no parking space left," to Rika sitting beside her, it snaps him out of his thoughts. Just then, the demon locks eyes with another teenage guy walking past the car. Brain notices that the boy's hair is blond like Derek's and a long, vertical scar runs down the left side of his face. Now that the car was parked near the entrance, Brian saw the other disappear into the glass doors...and it disturbed him.

"Okay guys. You go that way and we'll go this way," instructs Rika, pointing to two ends of the mall. "We'll meet you back here in the Food Court at four o' clock."

"Got your watch Derek?" asks Kyra.

He nods and the group separate.

* * *

Ooo... Yeah. My FinGErS!! ThEY PrOTesT iN PaiN! Well, you know the romance was bound to happen. Umm.. Well, here's the votes for the most fav character so far: 

Brian/Baal:2

Salem:1

Everybody else: 0


	7. Mall Shopping With Demons

To Hell-Flame-Narf: Yes. Brian is Baal, Derek is Diablo, and Melvin is Mephisto. Note: The first letters of every demon's human form name will correspond to their real name.

To Captain Skywolf: That's a good idea about the Salem thing but I don't know if I'm gonna add any of the normal heroes to the story...

R&R. I love it! Ummm...Yeah, and don't forget to vote which character is your favorite if you haven't and thanx to those who do!

Disclaimer: Yes. I admit it. The wonderfulness of the Diablo stuff belongs to Blizzard and moogles to Squaresoft. Oh. Ummm..and I guess Hot Topic belongs to whoever owns it...

* * *

The imp crawls past, muttering," At the guy's group, kupo." 

The guys' first stop was at a shop called 'HoT TOPiC', stocked with lots of black garments and dangerously spiked accessories. Strange, loud music boomed from the odd atmosphere overhead (they don't know about speakers), yet it was surprisingly to the demons' likings...well, to Baal's and Diablo's anyway.

"Can I help ya' with anything?" says a particularly weird man whose hair is discolored and looks as if it has a life of it's own, while his entire face is decorated with dozens of silver rings and piercings.

"Why, yes actually. Perhaps you could lend us your soul," says Brian. The only way to provide the Three with a faster means of gathering power was to take the souls of mortals. The only catch was that the humans had to say they could and give it freely.

"Wha? Man, I like you guys already."

The Three take on disgusted looks . Unable to attain a single soul, the demons bought a few things (overpaying 'cause they hadn't gotten used to the currency thing) and left. Brian had bought some mistakenly large shirts for Salem, Derek got some cool-looking notebooks and a straight-jacket for the hyper Kyra, and Melvin obtained some spiked wristbands and three violent comic books for Rika.

Their next plan was to split up even more so the odds of getting more souls were raised...

The imp walks up with a fake moogle nose on his snout, saying, "At the girls kupo. Check out ma' nose, kupo."

"Ooo! Maybe Derek wants some fish-shaped soap!" Kyra points to a bath-themed shop.

"Er...I seriously doubt that," says Rika.

"Let's see... Maybe you should buy Melvin a plush toy like Mr.Eff," says Kyra to Rika.

Mr.Eff was a black and white plushie of a cat who had a chain necklace on it, which Rika carried around, day and night.

"Then you could be alike!" Kyra says.

"I seriously doubt that too," says the other.

Selena trots alongside her sister. "Can I have a flamethrower?"

"No..."Salem sighs

"I think I'm gonna go look for the guys 'cause you people are scarin' me," Rika says as she wanders off.

"Nooo! Don't go to the light!" shouts Kyra, startling passerbys.

Selena hops away too, but in the other direction towards a store, whose multi-colored sign states, 'Plusheez 4 U And Ur Fwiend', with both Kyra and Salem running after her.

A 100-pound anvil falls on the imp and the moogles stands innocently to the side, saying, "I killed it kupo! Back at the guys, kupo!"

"Give me your soul mortal!"

"Ummm...no thank you?"

Sighing, the Three get the same answer every time, so they decide to regroup, contacting each other telepathically and directing each other to a meeting point.

"Did you get any souls?" asks Melvin.

"Nope," responds Brian.

"No luck here," answers Derek. "Ooo...Look at that."

The others look at what he is pointing to and see massive double-doors between an ice cream parlor and a shoe shop. Brian is the first to walk up to it and places a clawed hand on it's cool surface.

"It says 'Emergency Exit' on it. Good idea. Why don't we have emergency exits in hell?"

"Dunno. But go in. It may lead us to somewhere of importance," Derek walks toward it as his brother opens it, followed by Mephisto.

The demons find themselves in a backdoor alley. A large dumpster sits festering on the right of the wide alley and the ground is littered with loose paper. Let's see...Is that all? Wait! No, there is also a bedraggled, dirty hobo guy sitting on a pile of newspaper on the ground just to right of our hero-er...villia-er...demons. Since the sun is out, it shines directly in the hobo's er...direction, and he looks up at the three figures outlined in a blinding glow standing over him.

"Fianlly! It ish the coming of the angels, come to take me away from 'dis filthy rathole," the hobo dude mumbles excitedly.

Each demon looks at one another. It is Mephisto, the most intellectual one of the Three, who comes up with a plan.

"Er.. 'Tis we, the council of the seraphim, who have come to you. But in order for us to escort you to the heavens, we require your soul," he speaks in an echoing voice.

"I thought you said you was gonna' take me to Kentucky."

"Er...yes...right, Kentucky then."

"I never knew you's requireded souls."

"Of course we do. Just say the words and you've got your passport."

"Oookay then...You's can haves ma' soul."

"Score," Melvin says devilishly through a fanged smile and his eyes flash blue once, like cold fire. The papers on the ground begin to swirl in a malevolent wind like frightened gulls and the Three's human garments whip around violently. Eyes suddenly going black then stark white, the unfortunate man falls forward on the concrete while his body shudders. A vaguely humanoid shape rises up from the man's back like smoke, emerging with a sound like whispers in a long, empty hall. It moves into the priest's awaiting skeletal palm and dissipates like a snuffed fire as he closes his hand. And the other two stand amongst the chaos, looking only slightly impressed.

The triumphant moogle speaks, "Rika's situation, kupo!"

Rika gasps and instantly swings behind the double doors that had been slightly ajar. On her quest to find the mysterious brothers, she had thought it would've been nice just to shut the doors and had stumbled upon the lifeless, yet still-warm body of a hobo just outside. Now she stands there, just breathing calmer and walks away slowly, thinking that maybe she should call someone to investigate the body. And she did. After that, she passes by the bookstore and stops.

There, on a shelf meant for advertising in the front of the bookstore, marked 'best-sellers' was a book on Melvin and his religious ideas. It was a nicely decorated, hardback book with a glossy cover. Thinking it would be a wonderful gift, she buys it and few other books. On the way out, she bumps into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin' ya' yamhead!!!"

"Kyra?" says Rika.

"Yeah?"

"It's me, Rika," she says, annoyed.

"Oh."

Salem walks over and Rika notices her eyeing the books she is carrying. Salem and Kyra trot off to buy some too. By the time they're finished, it's nearly four o' clock and the group rn off to the area called the 'FUUD KOURT', nearly bowling the Three over. When Rika sees her new boyfriend, she notices a strange, new fervor in Melvin. 'That's strange,' she thinks.

Derek's voice breaks her concentration as he looks around. "Uh...Where's Selena?"

"Selena!" Salem shouts and rubs her forehead. "Not again," she groans and flees off in search of her little sister, trailed by the other girls while the Prime Evils said that they'd be back.

The imp drives to the moogle in an army tank with it's barrel facing the moogle, saying, "Step away from the dialogue kupo," while the moogle stutters, "A-At the guys, k-kupo."

Once in the men's restroom, the Three stand in the form of a triangle in the center of the room, preparing to perform a 'search spell'. One sink faucet had been left running, so Baal silences it with a look, blowing it to ceramic dust because it was annoying him.

"Was that really necessary?" asks Derek to his left.

Brian rolls his eyes as he cuts his right index finger with a clawed nail and lets a drop of blood fall to the floor tiles. The others repeat this gesture. The blood begins to sizzle and float into the air as a crimson mist, forming into a sphere in the center of the triangle. The Evils notice shapes forming in the reflective face of the now solid, crimson sphere. The view looks as if from a camera lens, and it shows the sign of the store called 'Plusheez 4 U And Ur Fwiend'. Soon, the angle shifts, moving along the aisles, and goes down the third aisle to focus on a pile of raggedy-looking, used dolls with soft, dirty skin and button eyes falling off. Then the crimson sphere fades out of existence with a faint 'whoosh' and the demons run off, now knowing where the girl is.

And in a stall, a man with his trousers down, faints on the toilet...

A pile of ash says, "Owww, kupo," as the imp, wearing an army hat, says, "At home, kupo."

Up on the roof, Salem felt she could breathe so much easier from the mall predicament. Especially with Brian beside her.

It was night and the stars shone through thin, wispy blankets of midnight clouds. Bright and luminous was the moon and the cool wind swept through the silent neighborhood. She rests on Brian's shoulder so that he was now her support. Brian began to get a little nervous and queasy in the head. Salem sighs and looks out across the stars, wondering.

Just wondering...

Brain sighs too. A content sigh though. His heart sinks too, thinking of how long humans stayed on the mortal plane while he, a demonic monarch of the realms of Hell, would forge on in time and space...forever in the world. To try to forget this, he absently runs his clawed fingers through Salem's hair and she catches his hand, cold and almost pulseless, and holds it against her cheek, warmer than embers to him. Light from the night sky reflects off from the face of the digital watch clasped around his wrist an casts a celestial map upon Salem's skin.

Somehow Brian felt exposed up on the roof. Somewhere the angels would be watching from their cowardly posts but he shakes away his care. 'Let them come,' he thinks. But suddenly, his demonic senses pick up the feeling of a different creature. The hairs on the back of his neck bristle as he senses another powerful force entering the world...from Below.

"What's wrong?" asks Salem as he straightens up.

"Oh, I...uh...thought I heard something."

Salem nods.

And somewhere in the dark, something evil shifts in the night...

* * *

Okie dokie then. Now that I have practiced my imagery, I am tired. :P Here's the votes so far. 

Salem: 1

Brian: 3 (I love the whole Brian's birthday review )

Selena: 1

Derek: 1 (I think)

Kyra: 0

Rika: 3

Melvin: 1


	8. Doubled Trouble

To Captain Skywolf: Yeah. The Seraphim will come in some time.

Don't forget to R&R and don't forget to vote which character is your favorite if you haven't and thanks if you did!!!

Disclaimer: Why must this be?! I...do..not...own Diablo for it belongs to Blizzard and moogles to Squaresoft.

* * *

The imp says, "Day 9, in the morning kupo." 

"About how long ago have they been here?" asks a thin, tangerine-haired man in a dark suit. He stands upright in front of the toy shop counter like a dark exclamation point. He looks as if he is from the FBI. (No he is not a Matrix agent.)

"Just yesterday afternoon," replies an oily-faced teenager with buck teeth, though his dark voice and perfect pronunciation sounded as if it came from a different origin. "I did not follow them in case their coming here was a trap. I believe you'll find the Three's posse...most interesting." The boy, adorned in the customary store uniform, leans on the counter as the only other in the store moves away and down the third aisle.

The man picks up a doll that looked as if it had seen better days and scans it with his eyes. Without turning around, he knows that the boy had come around from the cash register counter and followed him.

"I really wish you didn't wear that form Belial," says the suited one.

The boy rolls his eyes. Soon the familiar feel of bone, flesh, and muscle shifting engulfs him. Only after a few seconds, a new teenager stands in the aisle entrance...with a scar going down the left side of his face, while the true oily-faced teenager lay in a pool of his own blood under the counter. Belial, unlike any other demon, could morph into any physical appearance in order to spin a web of illusion upon his foes. Other demons, including the Prime Evils, had to either possess or kill a human to take on their form. Angels were out of the question, but Belial could change into virtually anything. "Whatever you say, Azmodan," he says rather sarcastically.

Azmodan ignores the comment. "Now, which of the Three were here?"

"All Three."

The slim figure holds the doll up to eye level and grins evilly. "Excellent.." and the doll bursts into flames as he tosses it's remnants away...

And all the while, the surveillance cameras catch nothing that has happened, save for the fire...

A now frustrated imp says, "Afternoon time, kupo" while the moogle, now in perfect condition, says, " I respawned kupo!"

"How awful. I didn't even get to buy those spiked gloves that I wanted," Salem says drearily.

"I know. Why would anyone wanna do this? I mean, that mall was about fifty years old," states Rika, looking at the roiling, smoking inferno swallowing the TV screen. Soon the camera pans away to include more of the surroundings into the picture; firemen rushing about, spraying gallons of water into the fire to no avail while the upper half of a newsman yaps on about the events, his body facing directly toward the camera instead of the disaster behind, as if unaware of anything but his paycheck.

"No! Somebody needs to tell it not to go to the light! Not the light!!!" shouts Kyra.

Salem looks at her. "Tell what?"

"The mall, duh."

"Freak," says Rika.

'Ooo...Finally. Destruction!' thinks Brian, watching the TV behind the couch with his brothers.

'Stop thinking such juvenile thoughts Baal,' Melvin says mentally to his brother.

'Oh lighten up geezer.'

'Geezer? I'll have you know that you're only two thousand years younger than I.'

'Geezer.'

'Oh don't you start that-'

'Come on Mephy. Lighten up,' says Derek mentally, entering their secret chat.

'Stop taking his side. And my name is not Mephy!'

'Geezer!'

'Mephy!'

Being a two-against-one fight, Mephisto grumbles and stalks away while mumbling stuff about hating everyone. The girls notice him leave.

"What's wrong with him?" asks Rika.

"Dunno. Maybe he needs anger management," Brian smiles.

The imp and moogle glare at each other menacingly. The imp says, "Later on, kupo," while moogle says, "It's my story kupo!"

"Okay, you guys have a nice time. We'll just be with Selena at her daycare just a few blocks down. We have to spend 'quality time' with her for awhile," says the raven-haired girl walking backwards down the sidewalk to shout at the three. She is followed by the rest of the group.

"Here's the car keys," Rika lags behind to hand it to them.

"Abstinence is good fo' you!" shouts Kyra down the road.

The disguised Prime Evils just walk off, acting as if they didn't know the crazy blonde, and wonder what to do next. Instead of taking the car, for risk of being mauled by their girlfriends over a destroyed vehicle (especially with Baal driving), they decide to walk down the sidewalk in the neighborhood leading into the main city, hoping to cause chaos any way they could. Since cameras and recorders couldn't 'pick up' the image or sound of demons, they wouldn't have too much of a problem. On their way, past busy streets polluting the air with car exhaust and people chattering or stealing and little dogs dying in overheating cars with no windows rolled down and noise and so much commotion and...yeah, you get the point...the Three began to wonder whether really needed demons in order to destroy their civilization. As they progress, a large church of marble and gray stone looms down the road. It was a magnificent church with buttresses, homely decorated stained-glass windows, and grand statues...yet it looked sort of odd and very unlike the churches they've ever seen.

Maybe because it was in the shape of a hand with splayed fingers. There were also a bunch of robed weirdos...wearing rubber gloves on their heads. The demons think this is the strangest human behavior. Some are praying inside the church. The Three stop just at the edge of the church's steps-since the Evils' feet begin to smoke in contact with any 'normal' church steps- and one of the freaks call out to them.

"Welcome. We are the Sacred Excusers of the Middle Finger of the Holy Hand. Do you wish to receive enlightenment?"

A family walks by them and the weird monks say, "You who are smelly in thy ways are excused," and the family look at them as if they belonged in an asylum while quickly pacing away. A rude guy in a cap and cool sneakers belches loudly as he passes and is startled when monks with rubber gloves on their heads form a circle around him and begin chanting, "Forgive him thy Holy Hand. He must be excused."

"We are a happy order. Evry day we hit our hands on thy sacred marble walls to give sacrifice to the great Middle Finger-"

"Oh GOD! My fiNgErS!!" Screams from the church.

"-or uh, sometimes we get others to help. And on January the first, we perform the great Showing of the Middle Finger of the Holy Hand all along the streets. It's just too bad that our leading ministers won't be here to celebrate with us."

"What happened to them?" asks a curious Melvin.

"My NAILS!!!" another screams from the church.

The monk ignores it and continues," "Well, you see, they kinda got shot..." He silences for a second then stares at Melvin. "But I see you too are a man with religious prestige-"

Brian cuts him off. "Duh. Don't you weirdos ever watch TV?"

The glove-wearing monk is hard-headed and doesn't listen. "-so perhaps you would like to join us in our holy conquest?"

The Lord of Hatred steps back one. "I think I'll pass..." and the Three trudge on.

'Must be those gloves cutting off the circulation to their brains,' thinks Brian.

* * *

Wahh!!! I scare myself... Glove headed monks! Wahahahahaha!! Anyway, here's the votes so far: 

Salem: 1

Brian: 3

Selena: 1

Derek: 1

Kyra: 0

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Yeah! I gots a total of 11 votes! Whoo! Caffeine kills!


	9. All Things That Go BOOM

To Gdog4ever: Hehe. Thas a funny hobo!

Don't forget to R&R and don't forget to vote which character is your favorite if you haven't and thanks if you did!!!

Disclaimer: Diablo belongs to Blizzard and moogles belong to Squaresoft, so there...

* * *

The imp says, "At the guys, kupo..."

Rika shudders as they step into the pastel-colored interior of the day-care center. Selena bounces happily into the room to go play with the other children while Salem signs in Selena's information at the check-in desk.

"Wow! Lookit' all 'da cuddwy, wuddwy children!" shouts Kyra, who rushes after Selena.

The room is full of wide-eyed plush toys and giant blocks and a huge network of tunnels that reminded Salem somewhat of hamster mazes or Spanish Inquisition labyrinths. Laughter of the young fills the air. Rika looks around and wonders how anyone could ever stand being in such a place. As she thinks, she is soon startled by a small child whose nose is dripping with snot as he pulls on her pants leg and says in a stuffy voice, "Hey missus. I need ta' go potty." Rika gasps and runs over to where Salem was chatting with a caretaker over at the check-in desk.

"Uh...Salem, are you sure it's sanitary here?" Rika asks and quickly glances behind to see if the disturbing child was still stalking her. He isn't.

"Oh of course it is!" spoke the overly-cheerful woman behind the front desk. "We use one-hundred percent anti-bacterial solutions on every toy and play-set."

A kid nearby, chewing on a toy, suddenly keels over and dies.

"Er...I'll get that," says the lady, excusing herself, and goes over to stash the body away.

"Mental cases," Salem mutters.

"Whoooooo!!!" Kyra and Selena cry as they hitch a ride on a miniature steam engine that had rolled by on it's tracks.

"Boy are they having fun," sighs Rika and shakes her head.

Salem agrees, "Yup."

They do not see the shadows lurking just outside the doors...

The moogle shouts, "Back at the guys kupo!"

An ammunition shop called "'Munitions" catches their attention as the demons were on their way away from the nuthouse church. So, they decide to check it out.

There was only one store owner, a pig-faced man in a plaid outfit, sitting lazily behind a glass display with a cash register on it. Each wall of the store was swords, guns, and various other dangerous objects like flamethrowers and grenade-launchers. (Not things you want demons to be around)

"Ooo..." says the Lord of Destruction And All Things That Go BOOM. He points to the walls and asks the clerk, "What is that?"

"It's a gun mister. I'ma guessin' you ain't from 'round here, are ya'?"

"Nope," Brian says and picks one up, looking through the barrel of the gun.

"That one there's a beaut'," says the man in a Southern drawl. "It'll blow an elephant's brain it's skull in no time at all."

"Hmmm... Tha's interesting..." he says. Even though he didn't know what an elephant was, he knew could probably do some damage on humans.

"Er...Perhaps you shouldn't touch those Ba-Brian," Mephisto says, inspecting the swords of various designs. He particularly took interest in the ones with the skulls. Diablo stands nearby, next to the flamethrowers. Brian looks at the man then stares evilly at the two, indicating that he wanted to test the gun on the guys brains.

"So...how does it work?" asks the topaz-eyed demon.

"Well, all ya' gotta' do is aim that end of the gun at somethin' and pull the trigger. But, of course, they aren't loaded," the clerk responds. "Geez. What planet are ya' from?"

"The same...Only, I'm more southern than you'll ever be." The two grin as Brian flips the gun around to inspect it more. "So... does this tool cause destruction?"

"What? Oh...uh, yeah...sure it does."

The demon turns toward him with the weapon. "Then pucker up."

Suddenly, right before 50,000 volts of demonic energy could blast the guy to bits, five masked people run into the store with pistols aimed at the Three and the clerk. The demons just tilt their heads while Brian lowers the gun and the man at the register tries to sink behind the counter and fails.

"Freeze Gramps or I'll blow yer eyes out," says a male voice behind one of the masks. All of the masked group appear to be male and they all wear gray shirts with skulls on them just for the purpose of scaring people out of their wits. Big-time criminals. "And you," he says to Brian, "drop ya weapon."

The two just stay where they are, seemingly neutral about a normally frightening, and not to mention life-threatening, situation. Brian anticipates the upcoming violence.

"Please, just take whatcha' want n' go," pleads the pathetic shopkeeper.

"Think we will," says the mask. "And we're takin' you guys as our hostages." He signals with head and the rest of the group start taking down guns off the wall. Then - BLAM!

Three million brain pieces now decorate one wall of the shop. All the others stood shocked; partially because of the death of their esteemed leader, but mostly because the gun that had killed him was hovering in the air. It jerked, then tossed itself away down one of the aisles.

"Eh...That killed him too quickly," Brian says, somewhat disappointed.

The masked men stare at the teenager in horror. A sense of immense evil lingers in the air as his skin shifts, becoming like that of a dried corpse. Two empty eye sockets with tiny topaz pinpoints leer out from a skull with skin stretched tightly over it where his eyes had been. The demon that stood before them in the place of the teenager turns toward them, wearing only mummy-like wraps on his wrists, wraps around his collar, and remnants of a grand robe with arcane symbols hanging around his waist. He sneers, mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, which would remind one of a snake's if one were lucky enough to get that close and live. Long vine-like tentacles jutted from his head and arms, writhing with a life of their own. (If you haven't noticed, Baal is in his mummy form because his spidery form just scares me... OO)

Suddenly, a tentacle flies through the air in the blink of an eye and skewers a robber straight through his stomach. The unfortunate guy drops his gun as he glances down at his fatal wound, mouth agape. Others stagger backwards and fire at the demon lord. The staccato sound of bullets ripping through glass and flesh ensue. When the smoke clears, they see Baal's wounds beginning to heal instantly and that the creature had not bled at all.

"Oww... That was annoying," he says darkly. Then they knew their end had come.

The shopkeeper just huddles behind the counter now that no one was watching him and shakes his head. You just didn't know who to trust these days...

The imp stares at the moogle intently and says, "Don't make me come over there kupo. At the girls, kupo."

At the same time that the criminals were being torn limb-from-limb, the bell on the door of the daycare jingles. Once, twice. Rika looks up from her conversation with Salem and sees two men enter. Seeing that they had no accompanying child, she wonders why in heck they would be here. One looks as if he was from the secret service.

"Okay, sing it with me chilluns! Oh! My bologna has a first name, it's-" sings Kyra, then stops and looks at the newcomers.

"It's-" the children repeat, confused at her pause. They begin shouting. "Monkey! It's Monkey!" "No. It's Bologna Bob." "Nuh uh. It's Meatloaf!" "Eww!!!"

The two figures walk in and suddenly, the FBI- looking one grabs Kyra's wrist and lifts her off the ground. "Oww, you meany person!" she says.

"Tell me... Where is Diablo, girl?!" he shouts.

"I'm sorry, I no speaky es' Spanish."

He tightens his grip and she winces with the intense pain. She is lifted to the point where her feet hover above the floor and she struggles helplessly.

"Hey you can't just-" the day care woman starts to say, but is cut off when a teenager with a scar on his eye, the other intruder, strides over and places a clawed hand over her head. The disguised demon mutters, "Xua heti rommic emc muv, xuap ruak zikumfr su li," and he pulls his hand away, a spectral form of the woman clasped in his claw by the head. In his other hand, he holds the limp body of the daycare woman, which he lets drop in a sickening thud. The woman's soul disappears in his hand.

Azmodan, holding the kicking human, could sense a strong aura of demonic energy crackling about her... a sign that came from being around the evil lords of the Underworld for too long.

"Really! I dunno' who you're talking about!" Kyra yells and tries to free her wrist. "Uh. Derek! Do you mean Derek?"

"Er..." The demon weighs his options. "Yes. Tell me where he is," he says, hoping that he had located his enemy's human identity.

Ever since Azmodan and Belial had served as warlords under the Three, Azmodan had always blamed his masters for thinking that mortals could actually aid demons in the Sin War, the war between devils and seraphim. So, he and Belial had been able to turn a majority of the creatures under their rule against the Prime Evils. Even though the triumvirate had destroyed almost all who opposed them, they were weakened by their exerting victory. And that was all that Azmodan, Lord of Sin and Belial, Lord of Lies needed to vanquish the Three onto the mortal plane, where the pesky warriors of mortals could defeat and seal the Three into Soulstones. However, this act was influenced by the Three's servant Izual, the False Angel, who insisted that the angel leader Tyrael allow the humans to use the stones, secretly being the intention of the demon lords all along. So, this allowed them to gain a foothold in the mortal plane and hide from both angel and rebellious demon alike. And what angered Azmodan even more was that the humans had interfered in his search.

"No! You cannot have my boyfriend!" Kyra shouts as he tightens his grip on her wrist. "Back off ma' grill yo!"

"Fine. If you will not reveal to me the Three's location, I shall torture you souls for all eternity!" His skin slowly begins to meld into scales. The odd man begins to change into his demon form, a now sharp-taloned claw clasping Kyra's wrist, who nearly fainted at the sight. His eyes are pupiless on a lizard-like face, with a large mane, a saurian-like body, a whip tail, and two, leathery wings jutting out from it's back. The children begin screaming and crying (well, except for one who thought he was seeing Barney's reincarnation). Raising it's snout in the air and unfolding it's wings in a fwoosh and a snap, Azmodan roars and grabs the other two girls who had demonic energy swirling about them. Rika and Salem. Selena runs after the demon advancing out of the daycare doors, while Belial is left to wreak havoc upon the small building. The bell jingles as she exits, but the little girl just misses her chance to reach the monster as it flies away, vanishing over the tops of buildings...

* * *

Oooo...Suspenseful, am I not? Just kiddin'. Well, here's the votes so far: 

Salem: 1

Brian: 3

Selena: 1

Derek: 1

Kyra: 1

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Hobo dude: 1 (hehe)


	10. Freeing You

Hi ya'll! Sorry for so long of a wait. I just had like a big, BIG spasm of writer's block...It hurt...Anyways, a shout to all the wonderful reviewers!

To Ellie: Hey! Sorry I haven't emailed you! Yahoo is down and I can't subscribe to anything else yet! Yes, I sadly love Baal. dies

To Cyber-Undead: Thank you so much for the full review! I really need it. Yes, my grammar sux. I do actually write better I'm just lazy. :P

To KatzGoMoo: Thanx for being so much of a 'fan' to my 'fic'...hehe. I do feel sorry for you though if you check everyday, cause I'm lazy...heh...

To Kyra: Yes. I see you! I SEEYOU! Yeah, Ms.Anonymous. :P Good luck w/ your Draw/Painting homework!

Disclaimer: No! Don't ask me! I do not own the great works of Blizzard and Squaresoft. Enough said. Now on with the story!

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-The imp returns to the stage saying, "Yo, kupo. We're back, kupo."-

Just a few minutes after Azmodan had flown away- Belial disappearing in a flash of smoke shortly after- the Prime Evils arrive faster than the greatest athlete could ever achieve, with Baal in the lead since of his main powers consisted of lightning (in fact, if you stuck one of his vines into an electric outlet socket, you'd have a lifetime supply of electricity for your house, free-of-charge.)

They had come because Mephisto had sensed an ill disturbance in the neighborhood that could only have signified the arrival of the treacherous warlords. When they get to the building, it lay in a smoldering pile of ruins, the remains of the roof slanted atop it like the fallen crest of a great, dying beast. Upon closer inspection, Brian notices that little Selena is crying her eyes out on the curbside.

"Wahh! Now I don' have anymo'...sniff...sista's to torture..."

"Selena. What happened?"

"Brainyhead?" she says, looking up at the approaching demons. "Wahh! HetookmasistaandIwannasaveherandhewasallscaryandbigandhewaslike"Roar!"andIwassoscaredbutIranafterhimanywayandIcouldn'tcatchhim!!!!!" she says rapidly.

"Uh...sure," he says, baffled.

"Hmm. It sounds as like our old friends, Azmodan and Belial," Melvin says darkly. "Get her. We're leaving."

"Which way did they go Selena?" asks Derek.

Sniffling, she points the way as Brian hesitantly picks her up. She squirms in his arms a little but does not try to cause physical harm to him with sharp objects as she would've done under normal circumstances.

"Okay then. We'll deliver the child home first and then go after them," says the priest.

"No! I wanna go too! Ish my sista'!"

"But-"

"Aww c'mon Mephy. She wants to come," the youngest of the brothers smiles.

"But she will discover our identity," Mephisto protests, "And do not call me that!"

"She won't tell anyone. Right Selena?"

The little child smiles cutely and rapidly nods her head.

"Fine," says the defeated demon.

In order to catch up to their otherworldly foes and to avoid being identified by the eyes of mortals, the exiled triumvirate shift into animal states that were designated to them from the beginning of time. Mephisto had become a large, glossy raven with two elongated, white feathers trailing from the back of his avian head. Baal became a slightly-larger-than-normal cobra with an intricate design on it's hood and fangs that held within them a corrosive poison. The youngest demon became a snow-white wolf with a glare that could kill thousands, Selena riding on his back. Under the aerial guidance of Mephisto, he rode down the streets while the serpent traveled subterranean-style, following the echoing footsteps of the canine.

And just about the time they stride into another neighborhood, an old lady, just staring out the window and settling down for some nice prune juice, sees them rush by the window, thinking to her lonesome, little self, 'My, my, my, the children of these generations, acting like hippies and freeing the animals again...'

-The moogle begins dancing randomly, saying, "Break dance kupo! The girls kupo."-

"Whoa. I feel like I'm captured or something'!"

"That's because you _are_ captured Kyra..." Rika sighs as she tries to free her hands and ankles from thick rope binding her to a wooden stake like Kyra and Salem. The dark-haired one fidgets in her bonds while the other tries to gnaw her ties.

Their surroundings appear to be a dark cellar or basement with only barrels in disordered stacks and secretive mice for company. 'What the hell was that...that... thing that brought us here? What did I do in my life that made me end up here?' Rika thinks. Just before coming to this dreadful place, Rika could recall snippets of memory between her vague unconsciousness hinting of where they were. Upon landing, the creature had carried her and Salem under it's arms like large rag dolls and Kyra with it's muscular tail and had headed down an alley and it looked as if they were to enter an explicit dance club. But instead, the creature had turned to a wall opposite the club and stepped right through it. Then, her vision had failed her and she'd found herself awakening to the insane protests of Kyra.

Just then, a rat stumbles clumsily towards the foot of her stake. It's eyes are pupiless. It climbs up the wooden pole and begins strangely to chew at her bonds. And then it suddenly it hits her that this could be one of those imps, or 'squirrels' in Kyra's dictionary. Is isn't too hard to figure out that the little creatures could embody things, seeing as how Kyra couldn't grab one. She thinks, 'But why would it want it want to help me?'

The enigma of it's heroic act lingers with her as she is freed. It hops away, melting into the shadows along with it's kin as Rika rubs the soreness out of her wrist, then goes to help the other two. After quickly releasing them from the strangely tied ropes, all three begin to look for an opening or door of some sort, to no avail.

"How did you get out?" Salem asks Rika as they run their hands along the cool, stone walls for a secret lever or something along those lines.

"Did a giant white penguin come to whisk you away from the distasteful bondage of teenage marriage?" asks Kyra.

"What?!" Rika shouts.

"Hey, I think I hear movement on the other side of this wall." Salem places one side of her face on the wall, followed by the others. Together they hear distant shouts in a language that only Rika would recognize but the voices only faintly echo, like soft waves in a conch. Then, the girls instinctively pull away as the ground begins to tremble, the wooden barrels playing a macabre drum tune. It soon fades away into deafening silence.

Salem tries to stay calm. Instead of waiting out her impending doom in silence, she decides to break the ice.

"Well, you can tell this guy isn't your normal serial killer," she says.

"Yeah," Rika says, catching onto what she was trying to do. "What do you think he was? Er.. IT was?"

Kyra looks at them, seemingly sane at the moment. "Maybe it's like those weird dudes in Scooby Doo who dress like monsters cause they is smoking' something..." (Note: No. I don't own Scooby either. Ha! Caught ya there huh?)

"That's most likely it."

"What about the guys?" Rika says.

"I'm sure they'll find us when they come back from the city," Salem replies.

"Heh. I hope they didn't run into that nuthouse church."

"Yeah," says Salem. "They'd be pretty freaked out."

"H-Has any of them been acting strangely lately?"

"Er...no...Why?"

"N-nothing.." she looks away.

And then, a hand grabs Kyra through the wall...

-The imp coughs and looks at the audience, saying, "Intermission, kupo. The writer needs to do some mental pushups, kupo."-

-The moogle appears, it's pom-pom looking quite different now, saying, "And now back to the story kupo! Check out ma' 'fro pom-pom, kupo!"-

Kyra screams at the hand appearing through the wall, the rest of it's body coming through from the solid rock. And the she notices a familiar, white shirt and the face of her boyfriend appear, smiling at her.

"C'mon! We don't have much time," he says, ushering the girls through the now transparent wall. It is a strange feeling to walk right through a rock-composed mass. To Kyra, it was much like trying to hug a 'squirrel'. The same empty chill. The trio find themselves running down a series of long tunnels after Derek, who seemed to know the way out. It seems as if the walls are constantly shifting, and a passage to the blonde-haired closes off by itself, becoming a wall. She shudders.

They are grateful as they get out, breathing hard from trying to keep up with Derek, and finding themselves out in the same alley that Rika recognized. They ask him how he'd found them and he told them that he'd seen the perpetrator fly over here. He said he'd gone alone and that the two had gone off to see a few friends.

And in truth, those 'friends' had almost killed them...

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Okay then. Well that's it for now. Next time, I'll try to post more often...heh... Remember to vote for your fav character peeps! Here's the tally so far:

Salem: 2

Brian: 4

Selena: 1

Derek: 1

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Ciao!


	11. Random Holiday!

Aww, you guys are so wonderful. -sniffles- I love reviews… Moo.. Yeah, and now for reviewer acknowledgements…

To Devin: I see you Devin! Yes you!

To Zanger: Aww… Thanx for the comments!

To Stu: Thanx as well for the review. Hmm… Yes I know my grammar and stuff sux but it's only a fanfic but thanx for the helpful hints. Now, if I were to publish it I'd polish up ma skills. Oh yeah, I'm Christian too. Scary huh? Oh, and I don't think you'll hafta worry about the real intense love scenes.. Sorry, just NOT gonna happen… OO Just THINK OF their CHILDREN!! Hehe…Baal…erm… :P

Disclaimer: Okay. For the love of potatoes, no, I don't own anything of Blizzard and Squaresoft. And yes, my brain belongs to the Martians…

Oh yes, by the way…This chapter may seem a bit strange to you. It would have something to do with the dates automatically switching to Easter Day. Yes, I know Easter is a RELIGIOUS day and your probably wondering how in the world demons celebrate that but… don't ask. It was Easter when I wrote this so I FELT LIKE IT. Thank you. -bows-

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-The imp saunters up to your screen and says, "Later in the day, kupo."-

The two demons had arrived a little after. They were smiling, more than the girls had ever seen when they retreat to their rooms. When the enter their 'sanctum', Brian winces at his effort of having to cover up his injuries. The smile had been used to hide the fact that he had been brutally wounded in trying to keep Azmodan and Belial's attention from their captives, while Diablo did his little 'hero-act'. Brian growls at himself at having lost their rock-scissors-paper game to be the one to save the girls.

The fight had been an all-out bloodshed, a new version of IMmortal Kombat but in the end, the two had had to flee. Their archenemies had shown far greater power than they had expected, so they'd followed after their younger sibling. Yet, for some reason, they hadn't been followed.

On their way back, Melvin had told Brian that when they were to confront the humans, they had to angle themselves so as not to reveal their most-likely horrifying wounds. Selena had been with them too but Brian saw that she went instantly to her sister the moment they got home. To him, the little girl didn't seem the least bit disturbed by either the demons or the blood. In fact, Brian recalls when she had gone up to Azmodan, stepped on his claws, and escaped alive. 'That is one lucky kid,' he ponders as he changes from his blood-soaked clothes into new ones with just the snap of his fingers. The manual labor of taking off and putting on garments just took too much time. By this time, it was already midnight.

-The moogle, dressed in army clothes, strides about, shouting, "Hup, two, three, fo! It is now Easter Day, kupo!"-

On the next night of that last fateful night (hehe), the police had been called and the Three had lied, telling the girls that they didn't know those who had attacked. In turn, the police had asked the girls what the kidnappers had looked like but, strangely the girls couldn't quite remember, thanks to Mephisto's late-night hypnotism spell he'd woven over them while they were asleep.

And then, they had let the event slip into time and now, it was Easter Day…

While wondering what kind of a parent would shelter their child from this holiday, Rika explains to the trio of brothers what Easter was, so that they could celebrate with them too. Salem is cooking scrambled eggs in the kitchen, Rika knew because of the warm aroma drifting into the living room and Kyra is outside somewhere painting boiled eggs and stuffing the plastic ones with candy. Selena bounces happily beside the more serious blonde of the group, helping Rika explain too. Part of her hyperactive-ness had to do with the anticipation that came with waiting for her friends to come.

"…That's about it. Now, if you want, you guys can go help Kyra or Salem," finishes Rika. She sits on the couch as they vacate it. Selena runs off to Kyra. Looking into the kitchen to spy on Brian, she begins to wonder if supernatural entities could celebrate holidays…

-The imp sits down and sighs, "I is tired kupo. At Kyra, kupo."-

Melvin, Derek, and Selena are helping Kyra paint the eggs. Derek, not knowing how to paint, took a long time to decorate one, while the currently retired priest paints articulate, arcane symbols in a pattern on each egg. Kyra is impressed, comparing her blotchy, pink bunny paintings to his intricate raven motifs.

Just then, she hears the doorbell ring (oh how Brian hated that thing) and finally Selena's friends have arrived.

-The moogle dances speaking, "Kupo, kupo! During the party, kupo!"

"So THIS is where humans come from…" Mephisto states as he examines an egg. Then, he shifts his attention to all the pets that Selena's friends had brung over to the party.

An assortment of baby chickens and rabbits run rampant throughout the house while the females and the children are outside swatting at a papier mache animal with something called a 'bat'. The only 'bat' he knew had two wings and fanged teeth and would have much enjoyed biting people on the neck, while their 'bat' looked nothing more than just a stick. 'How odd humans are..'

Since the elder demon is in the kitchen, a movement near the living room entrance catches his eye and sends all the little animals running in fear. He sees nothing, but once he turns his head around, something charges in, roaring like a wendigo (to humans, they were Bigfoot and yes, they DO exist :P) with a stubbed toe, and pouncing on the table where the animals had earlier massed. Mephisto, currently at that table, bops Brian on the head (yes, it was Brian) more to disencourage his brother's actions than to smite him.

"Owww…" his little brother rubs his head.

"Stop this foolishness," Mephisto says coldly, staring at his brother with pupil-less eyes.

"I can't help it. Itsa' snake instinct and it just so happens that chickens and rabbits are on my diet." Brian looks around slyly. Suddenly, a bunny darts across the room and he grabs it by the nape.

"Well THESE aren't," Melvin says calmly at his seat.

The rabbit bites Brian's hand and, out of instinct, he flings it into oblivion. It screams "Meeeeeeeep!!!" all the way away.

"Stupid bunny…"

-An undead bunny walks by the imp and moogle. The imp says, "That's a weird bunny kupo." The moogle states, "That night, kupo! Icky bunny, kupo!"-

"Have you seen any sign of him in the last month?" asks Derek at the Prime Evils' late-night gathering at the kitchen table.

"Not at all. That Tyrael is a sneaky one. But it won't be long 'til he finally shows himself, I can assure you that," Melvin says, sitting straight in his chair and munching on a chocolate bar. "What do you think Baal? Baal?! Baal!!! Blast you to the High Heavens! Get over here and stop eating those rabbits! …You might get heartburn."

Brian, chasing one of the poor creatures, sighs and resumes his seat at the table.

"What?" he says, rather disinteresting-ly.

"Hey, do you know what a Spring Vacation is?" Derek changes the subject.

"Er…no," the others say in unison.

"But I have heard of it from one of Rika's conversations. She said something about it…like it was going to end soon. She seemed pretty upset about it. Then she said that she, along with Salem and Kyra, would have to 'go to school'."

"What IS a school?" Brian asks, now more interested.

"Dunno," Diablo shrugs and stares at a picture of the lovely Kyra…with some other guy… The picture is magnetized onto the door of the refrigerator that hummed and whined like a retarded dog on steroids.

"Sounds like something important," Brian comments, tapping his fingers on the table, restless.

"Yes. This 'school' may be of some importance to us. We shall go with them and see for ourselves…" deduces Mephisto.

"Good idea," says Brian.

-The imp flies by and stops to say, "Day 11, in the morning, kupo."-

"Bad idea!" shouts Kyra in a frantic flurry of insanity. "I knew it! It's all yo' fault!!! I listen tp you for one second about your whole 'Procrastination is good fo' you' crap and now…I'm gonna die!!!"

Kyra is currently running rampant through the house as Derek watches the girls to see if he could pick up any more information on what a school was. His current location: on the couch looking over the back cushion. Salem is sitting beside him, scribbling furiously, like a maddened scholar in Diablo's eyes, to write the twenty-page, three-thousand word essay that was due on the first day of school from Spring Break. Meaning: tomorrow. In fact, all three of the girls had homework due tomorrow. Lots of homework.

Rika is trying to build some kind of craft while Kyra was still shouting her head off.

'Wow,' thinks Derek, 'This 'school' could be a great weapon in our evil plots…'

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Moo… Well that's all for today kiddies! Aww..Don't you just wanna squeeze Baal?! Er…Right…I didn't say that.. OO Don't forget to vote for your fav character all you's people! Here's the results so far:

Salem: 2

Brian: 4

Selena: 1

Derek: 2

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Hasta la vista baby! Erm…


	12. Archangels Abound

Okie dokie! Once again, I am so sorry for my laziness! Hee. Yeah well anyways, WHO REALLY READ THIS STUFF ANYWAY?! ON TO THE REVIEWER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!!

To Katz Go Moo: Heh… Don't die! Um… Thanks for your support!

…And um… THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR REVIEWING! waves to everyone Remember kiddies, if you haven't already, please vote for your favorite character! I love Baal. Erm… Hot Pockets taste good. Oh yeah! And those who've been waiting for angels? Well, here they are!! …Finally… Yay! I also finally got my stories to ITALICIZE!!!

Disclaimer: Arg…Nope, I don't own Blizzard's Diablo or Squaresoft's moogles or anything for that matter… OO

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-The moogle prances, saying, "Day 12, kupo!"-

As an agreement with all of the girls, Salem distinctly remembers saying they would help the guys go to school- they were too eager to go to school to be American-in exchange that they help them do their homework. 'These lucky foreigners,' thinks Salem, referring to the fact that her boyfriend and his siblings had not known anything about school.

She shifts the black backpack hanging from one shoulder and sits down near Kyra and Rika in the classroom. To keep an eye on them, Salem had also requested that her 'foreign' friends stay in her classes. It is fate that every one of their strange group happened to be in almost all of the same classes. Meanwhile, Selena would be in the care of a baby sitter…since daycare centers were out of the question…

"Hello class. Welcome back from your Spring Break. How was it? I hope you all have your essays," says the teacher.

She is known as The Fuzz. No, not because she was a police officer of any sort, even though she strongly enforced the law of preserving the natural 'wildlife' (including the protection of local birds, the squirrels, her class pet gecko named Bob, and the seven species of roach infamous to the school), but she is known mainly for her armpit hair (you may barf now) and the ten pounds of wig nestled like a dead, obese cat on top of her head. She is a heavyset woman who wore mainly green skirts and talks to herself during the extra minutes of class. She also has huge crooked teeth that made her look as if she would bite your head off literally if you forgot an assignment.

"Geez. What's with the beaver in the wig?" Salem can hear Brian whisper to her. She stifles a fit of laughter that threatens to earn her a detention.

Ah. That's what she likes about him. His sense of humor, his laid-back personality, his outgoing, 'no-fear-of-death' mood. Well, he isn't one of the most muscular guys, but the whole 'big n' bulky' isn't her type anyway. She silently passes a note saying simply 'Behave' on it and snatches a glance at Rika and Melvin. Although he doesn't look as if he needed to go to school, Melvin had still agreed to accompany her. Now he looks a few years younger in Salem's eyes, finally wearing normal clothes in comparison to that priestly robe he wore everyday, sharing those overly large headphones and swaying to whatever music they are listening to with Rika. She feels happy for them.

Same with Kyra and Derek. Derek is caring, outgoing, and seems pretty happy with his life. It is a perfect match for Kyra who had suffered a recent 'break-up' in a relationship with some jerk who ran off for some other prissier, and saner, women. The problem is that this guy still goes to the same school and Salem hadn't much liked him in the first place. It seems to her as if Derek was heaven sent, healing poor Kyra's broken heart.

Salem doesn't even know of the irony that her mind had produced.

-The moogle stares at the imp and starts randomly doing the wave, shouting, "Meanwhile, kupo. Do the wave kupo!-

Tyrael didn't know which was wore: spending a whole month on the earth searching for three demons with the most infinitesimal chance of luck while his searches were still fruitless, or this crummy bar he was currently in. It is located in the downtown only a few miles from the Three's current residence, where drugs, where drugs and chaos reigned supreme.

The bar atmosphere smells of smoke, 'Typical of humans,' thinks the angel in disguise. He is tall and slender, his smooth face perfect of wrinkles. The angel's hair is a neatly combed wave of short, blond hair that glistens in the smoke-fogged light and he is wearing a pure white trench coat with white leather shoes. The shirt and pants under his coat are…you guessed it… white. Despite the odd harmony of color that his garments possessed, his well-groomed appearance that was granted by being a servant of the Heavens seems normal. He could've been a celebrity of Hollywood, though he lacked the evil to be one. In fact, the only thing that drew most of the stares to him was the giant, sheathed sword held by a strap to his back.

The sword's name is Azurewrath. Tyrael recalls how it was crafted by the divine mixture of steel and diamond. A turquoise gem glistens in the center of the hilt and the two guards (???) jutting out above hilt were stylized wings. When in battle, it would be engulfed in a harmless, azure fire that seared demons to a crisp, hence the name.

Right now he is sitting on a stool in the bar, surveying the rowdy humans against a background of glowing neon signs advertising other things beside the brands of beer that were available. A television set above the rows of bottles in the bar blares on about a petty game football.

"Hey, you wash' shumtin'?" says a scruffy, old bartender from behind the grimy counter, polishing the inside of a glass with a dirty rag as all bartenders do.

"I am sorry to bother you sir but have you seen any juvenile delinquents around here?," the angel asks, looking down from the TV. The bartender glances around the room as if to say, 'Have you looked around lately?' "May I have some tea too, please?"

All around, sweaty men gamble or drink beer or smoke or watch the game and shout rudely. Some stare at Tyrael but he ignores it. Others settle for a game of pool, cigarettes poking from the sides of their mouths, hot ash decorating the floor.

"I'm shorry shir. I ain't never seen no JUVENILE delinquents. And we ain't got no tea. Shee, when ya' goesh to a bar, ya' gotta buy beer."

"Er, then what do you have?"

"Well, yoush can try our new tequila vodka beer mix special," the bartender inquires.

"Comin' right up." The bartender stalks towards the bottles on the wall.

A drunk group of guys suddenly break into song like some odd musical. "Oh! _Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall! Ninety-nine bottles of beer!"_

"Oh boy," the archangel groans and receives his drink. He places his hand down on the hard wood counter and a few silver coins flop from his hand and make a few revolutions before dropping like dead soldiers to their sides. The bartender looks at them strangely then scoops them greedily, muttering about foreign currency.

__

"Take one down,

"pass it around,

"Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall!"

'Man, am I thirsty," thinks Tyrael. Unfortunately for him, immortals just happened to drink a lot…

-"At school, kupo," the imp says, looking rather bored.-

'Well, they sure are comfortable in this school,' thinks Rika. She is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, watching as the boys converse at their table, as it is now lunchtime.

The cafeteria is loud with the voices of students and smells of by-product food waft in the air. Long tables with stools serve as the dining tables and Rika struggles to find a place to put the rest of her lunch down on the dirty, stain-laden table. Salem sitting to her right is busy munching on chips, talking to Brian and Kyra, sitting across from her, eating cold cafeteria pizza, is busying herself by completing some last minute homework. Derek beside her, Rika notices, has begun taking a liking to the food, especially to the questionable meat dish, which causes her to lose some of her appetite. Brian and her own boyfriend insist that they not eat.

The black-dressed teenager sighs and feels content just to be with her friends.

And then it hits her.

'Can demons truly be my friends?,' she ponders silently.

She had deduced that perhaps even Melvin was a demon, but it was only a secret for her to know and she would never reveal it. 'Besides, it's just a silly, little superstition.' Of course Salem wasn't a demon, she'd known her for five years, ever since their sixth grade year, as they are now Juniors in high school. And Kyra is mainly just a sugar-high, frosting-loving girl. _No problem there._

Rika wolfs down the last of her sandwich. She has vague notion that something big would happen in her life sometime this year, and she thinks she knows what it might be, according to her troubled dreams. Before she can stop it, she is thinking of it, an alien idea invading her thoughts.

__

The war that would affect all planes of existence…

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Okay, that's all. Go home now. Oh? You're already home? Crap…Nevermind… OO Ummm.. Yes, how does thou liketh it-th so far-ith? Remember, reviewing (and no flaming) makes the writer of this fic VERY happy and she will send you muffins if you do!!! Um…That was random…Anyways, here's the votes so far:

Salem: 2

Brian: 4

Selena: 2

Derek: 2

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Ta at…


	13. Organic Portal

Whoo! It's Christmas Eve! -dances with a bewildered Baal- Erm… Anyways, sorry again for being a lazy bum! Hee. -slaps self- Okay, I need to stop saying sorry. Anyway, in case you haven't been paying attention, please say whose your favorite character in your review! Thanks! Come on! Brian and Kyra are winning! What? No love for angels? Vote for me! Salem! You know, the cool character? Hee. Anyway, thanks for reviewing! I LOVE REVIEWS!

Disclaimer: No, no, no! I don't own Blizzard stuff or moogles from Squaresoft. Yet…

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--The imp wraps it's tail around the frightened moogle, saying "At the end of school, kupo," whil the moogles says, "Don't eat me kupo!"--

"_Sixty-two bottles of beer on the wall,_

_"Sixty-two bottles of beer!_

_"Take one down, pass it around,_

_"Sixty-one bottles of beer on the wall-"_

By about the time that the group if teenagers were finishing up the last minutes of school, the Great Archangel Tyrael was pretty plastered. About fifty-percent of his immortal brain cells were rendered useless and he about nearly topples over after his sixty-third glass. He clumsily rises from his stool and exits in a rather awkward fashion, getting acquainted with the wall many times.

'_Note to self: -HIC!- Don' drink alcheholl…' _his thoughts slur.

"_Fifty-six bottles of beer on the wall!" _shout the drunken chorus as the angel makes it out of the bar.

'_Gotta' find the- HIC- 'Shree…'_

--The imp looks around, stating, "Going home, kupo."--

By the time the girls had left school, the guys had been long gone. This is because they had participated in after school art activities, since all the girls were true visual artists. This meant that they were late by thirty minutes and that the three brothers (who would already be home) had the responsibility to pay the babysitter and watch over Selena until they got home. These art activities only happened once a week, so the Three only the responsibility ever once in a while.

"Okie dokie!" exclaims Kyra, walking in between Salem and Rika down the long pavement running through their neighborhood. "Now we gots some free speech time! Who wants to go first?"

"Umm… What exactly are we going to talk _about?"_ asks Rika, her ebony backpack sloping off her shoulder.

"Er… That feeling you get when you sit down in a warm chair. It's all… warmy!"

"I hate that feeling! It's gross. Just the fact of knowing that someone's _butt_ has preceded in sitting in the same chair before you just makes me wanna' vomit."

"Booty germs!" Kyra shouts, disturbing the neighborhood.

"Uh… no comment," says the raven-haired teenager with a skull printed on her shirt, wondering how in the world she met these crazy friends of her's.

The crazy one ponders. "Okay. How about…Derek? What do you think about him?"

"He's okay," says Salem. "He's always so…positive. Even Selena likes him. It's kinda' scary. Selena usually wants to cut the living daylights out of any guys she sees."

"Yeah. He's definitely the sanest of the three. I think. You got the crazy one," Rika comments to Salem, remembering Brian haggling with the lunch-lady for the price of a bag of chips. The truth of demons existing wells beneath her train of thoughts. She's not paying much attention to the conversation now. '_So if there are demons… are there angels too?'_ she thinks. _'Who knows. They could be anyone in this whole neighborhood for all I know…'_

She didn't know how correct she was.

--The moogle dances randomly. "Kupi kupo!" it says.--

There is a normal church located at the southern end of the neighborhood, looking new and clean and beautiful. It is grand and tall, shadowing the surrounding buildings, it's origins coming from a hefty sum of money donated by a wealthy family of sheep-shearers. It has many sculptures of biblical figures and it's stonework is elegant and detailed.

But enough about _that_ church cause, that's not the one I'm talking about! Anyway, there is another, more decrepit church farther down the southern end of the neighborhood, and within the priest's study room, voices echo.

"So this human asks me if those shoes he found were sacred, and I told him that they _couldn't _be because… Jesus never wore shoes! Hahaha!"

"Uh… how is that funny?"

"Dontcha' get it? Jesus…Shoes… Oh forget it. You need up lighten up some, buddy."

The first voice is Hadriel, Archangel of Love and Happiness. Of course, his nature befit his name, but he didn't believe that it would've quite achieve it's goal to strike fear in the hearts of demons. "I had gone up to the 'Big Man's' office, you know, for a title change," Hadriel had said, "and all I got was a ticket stub for a ten-year wait and a big, fat 'NO' so I guess I'm stuck with it." The second, less enthusiastic is that of Izual, the False Angel (even though none of the angels of Heaven knew that he worked for the Three in reality. They did, however, get a strange feeling about him though. Perhaps it was his famous anti-socialism or it could be the spike-adorned black armor that he wore in contrast to the standard silver-and-gold armor that they wore).

"Tyrael's sure been out a long time," Hadriel notices, sitting in the study table's chair. Old books, manuscripts, and unlit candles lay scattered on the oak wood table before. A bible sits open to a particular page, sticky-notes poking from it's mass.

"He probably got arrested for carrying that sword around with him," Izual says from his spot, sitting on a low bookshelf.

Izual runs a hand through his hair, as fine and dark as the smooth texture of black silk, a gray headband that holding it back in place. He is wearing a black trench coat, a belt around his waist, and a matching black shirt and pants. One sleeve is rolled up, revealing a scar on his arm. Black shoes also adorn his feet (as angels tend to care for one color of dress). The False Angel's companion is wearing the same manner of clothes in gray, minus the rolled-up sleeve and headband. Hadriel's light, earthen hair is like a halo crowning his head, pulled back in a masculine ponytail. While Izual's sword, hanging limply on a strap by Izual's waist, was the famous Shadowfang, Hadriel didn't much care for the name of his sword as long as it could hack demons into bloody chunks. Eventually it came to be known as Mourning Glory.

The two angels sit in the study while the priest comes in and out of the small room to compile his notes into a sermon while trying to ignore the stares of his otherworldly guests. Out of mutual luck, much persuasion, and a couple of exorcisms, the seraphim group had been able to get the permission to take refuge in the priest's private study quarters for the duration of their hunt for the Three.

And now, they await the return of their leader.

When Tyrael waltzes in through the doors of the church a few minutes later, his two colleagues smack themselves in the head and sigh, waiting for the alcohol to evaporate from his angelic blood. After that is accomplished, which takes another few minutes from the angels' lives, Tyrael relays his doubts about the Prime Evil's whereabouts.

"I've yet to see anyone or any disastrous act which will point us in the right direction. There should've at least been an earth-shattering quake that usually comes with the awakening of three great, powerful demons. You see it in the movies all the time. However, I just before the alcohol began to take effect- and I pardon my earlier… lack of sober manners- just before it took effect, I felt an odd fluctuation in the natural energy balance in the nearby neighborhood. Of course, many things can disturb the balance, even those microwave things can change it, but this was a bigger scale fluctuation," says Tyrael, who then looks at the priest near him.

"Pardon me. Could I just get that there book? Thanks," the old man reaches around the angels, careful not to touch them, and hobbles toward his desk.

"Have any of you found anything?" the Archangel leader looks at the two hopefully.

"Well, I have heard from some sources that, a few months ago, some guy named Derek, I didn't catch his last name, he quit his job at a traveling carnival to join some groupies of his or something," states Hadriel leaning on the desk of the disturbed priest, who is now scribbling notes for a new sermon.

"So, how does that mean anything?" asks Tyrael.

"Well, maybe it's just a hunch but- the strangest thing was that he played some part in a freak show called the 'Eyes Of Fear' or something along that line. But even stranger was that he quit a perfectly good-paying job just to be with some people… and that was on the night of the second prophesized Unholy Affinity, the day that was foretold when the youngest of the Prime Evils would find a mortal puppet that would have one fourth of a chance to create an organic link from the Mortal Plane… to Hell…"

"That's nonsense. Things like people quitting their jobs could happen in huge percentages all over the mortal world, and besides, take perhaps the chance that maybe it were a lie your source told you," says Izual, trying to dissuade the archangels on following through with the idea. "I mean, Tyrael, you told us to keep an open mind to the truths of things… why not the falsities?" '_They're hitting too close to home,'_ thinks the fallen angel.

"Well, I see no reason why they would lie about such a thing," says Hadriel defensively.

"They're humans! They were born to lie…"

"I'm just wondering about that Organic Portal to Hell," Tyrael says, concern in his voice. "We have to find and destroy all possible humans before it is too late…"

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Well, THAT was fun. More suspense yes? I want my pizza! Don't forget to vote and umm... Is there anyone out there who is obsessed with Baal/Bryan (Yes, that is how I spell his name now!) as I am, other than that one reviewer? Huh? HUH?! Hee... Merry Xmas to ya' all! Here's the votes:

Salem: 2 (Me!)

Bryan: 4 (Ooo..)

Selena: 2 (My sista'. She's a monkey.)

Derek: 2 (Do you love him? Huh?)

Kyra: 4 (She's crazy!)

Rika: 3 (She's sane!)

Melvin: 2 ( Bow down!)


	14. Far From Over

Okay, I'm trying not to be lazy! Aren't you happy? I'm not! --gets whip lashed for not working-- Oww… Okay, okay. Slave-driver… OO Anyway, here's the next chappie! Don't forget to vote vote vote! And review! I'll hug you if you do! Anyway, please excuse the weirdness of this chapter as this story is only a practice thing in case I really want to write a novel. Pfft. As if THAT'LL ever happen. Anyway, (I need to stop saying 'anyway') this chapter was basically so I could practice my drama skills a bit… :P Please R&R! Now on to the reader acknowledgements!

To Katz-Go-Moo: Thankies for the review! Hehe. Wow, you've really been stalking my story huh? Hee! Yay! Anyway (Jeez!) I spelt Bryan that way cuz' that's how I want it spelt from now on til the end of time, but I'll keep it Brian. J Hm… You are are my only reviewer for the lasy chappie. --hands you a cookie-- Here ya' go!

Disclaimer: How many times do I hafta' tell ya! I have not any Blizzard material OR Squaresoft's moogles. Kupo!

OH YEAH!!! I finally got a scanner so now I can put up my drawings of the very hot Brian and me and everyone else in the story!! WHOO! Now…Where to put them… I'm obsessed.

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--The moogle announces, "Ahem, kupo. A few days later kupo! It is now recorded day number 13, kupo! Salem and Derek's POVs kupo."--

The next three days of school had drawled on with the slow, torturous tendencies of all school days, being uneventful, save for the arrival of the three Prime Evils. Not like today. Salem was pleased and embarrassed at the same time when Brian instantly, yet hilariously, disposed of some punk who had shamelessly insulted her. Disposed of, via the means of the wonderful sport of toilet-dunking and 'swirlies'. Now he is forced to help out in the cafeteria.

During lunchtime, she stifles a laugh as she walks into the lunch line to buy some pizza, watching Brian, wearing a hair net, as he dolls out scoop-fulls of mashed potatoes in an annoyed and tedious manner. He also takes the time to glare at anyone who would dare comment about his new 'fashion'.

That was the positive side of the day. But that wasn't the only thing that happened today. Apparently there was something wrong with Kyra and Derek's relationship. '_Of course, it's always the relationships,'_ Salem thinks, emerging from her first classroom. From what she heard, Kyra was caught on a supposedly solo walk down one of the school corridors and then that jerk Brandon, whose old middle school photo clung to the fridge in her house, had tried to 'sweet talk' her into another relationship. And before she could even answer, Derek had up and left her for another girl… a dreaded cheerleader! Brandon, Kyra's ex-boyfriend, had tried to console her but she would have none of his lies. But this was only what she heard from gossip…

Salem sighs, now having to bear witness to yet another argument between Derek and Kyra, along with the new girl Amanda. Rika stands behind her as helpless as she.

"So what _about _Brandon?!" shouts Kyra, all hints of her insanity gone.

"Come on Derek," speaks up Amanda in her annoying, 'Miss Prissy' voice, tugging on Derek's sleeve. "She's not worth arguing with." '_Don't go. Don't go,'_ Derek thinks to himself, looking at the pained face of Kyra, her eyes sparkling with some kind of liquid. Derek reluctantly follows.

He could remember that painful kiss he had had to watch, that kiss between Kyra and that fool of a mortal. He recalls the strange muscle contractions as he thought, _'So, this is what sorrow feels like.'_ Yes. He watches this kiss replay over in his mind. He remembers how humans could only have one 'mate'… so why did she choose the other over him? He didn't know. This was all so confusing to him, he, a demon, fallen in love and having his heart broken. First he had wanted to kill this Brandon, but his brothers had told him of the consequences of that. Then he had wanted to destroy everything around him, being unable to deal with this new enemy, the enemy called Heartbreak. Now, he isn't too sure of what he wants to do. It is all too confusing and painful. Pain unlike any he'd ever felt before, nothing an angel nor mage nor demon could deliver. Just Kyra.

The kiss replays in his mind again as he is lead to class by the beautiful yet snotty Amanda. However, this was a kiss that Brandon had given without Kyra's consent. But Derek didn't know that…

--The imp walks up to the moogle, handing him a present while saying, "A gift for you kupo!" The moogle jumps up and down shouting, "Later kupo! Thanx, kupo!"--

Kyra hadn't known whether to cry or slap Derek silly. '_It wasn't my fault that Brandon had deliberately kissed me right then and there, even before I could say anything,'_ she thinks angrily, emotions conflicting within her. '_How did Brandon know just when Derek would see us together?' _She shrugs, her mind shifting back to Derek. '_Well still, what's wrong with Derek? Why won't he even give me a chance to explain it to him? It's like he's never had a relationship before. I mean, with his looks like his, he's sure to have had a girlfriend…'_

The thought lingers in her mind as she walks down a long corridor, it's walls lined with classroom doors and lockers. Just after Derek had appeared to relay the message to Kyra about his _new _girlfriend, Brandon had mysteriously snuck off as he had done right after their kiss. '_Strange,'_ Kyra thinks, walking further down the dim hallway.

Right now, it is lunch time and, instead of eating, Kyra had decided to take this time to wander the deserted halls for some time alone. The shadowed walls seem to close in around her, constricting her to this dark, concealed place. A shiver runs down her spine. '_What's wrong with me?'_ Kyra tries to calm her unsettled nerves. A skittering sound causes Kyra to glance to her left, but it is only the commotion of roaches in a garbage can. She shakes her, laughing uneasily. '_First, I wanted to cry my eyes out, then I wanted to beat the daylights out of Derek for not listening to me, and now I'm frightened, and about what?'_

"What am I afraid of?" she says aloud, trying to drive away the eerie silence.

And that fear lapping at the back of her neck suddenly grows a voice.

"I don't suppose it would be me."

The frightening teenager swings her head around and sees her ex-boyfriend Brandon, standing only a few feet away, hands crossed. He grins, his eyes fixed on her like a falcon to a mouse.

"Look, Brandon-" Kyra tries to say, looking around for any school staff to come to save her.

"What's wrong Kyra?" he says with mock sympathy, his voice like dripping, poisonous chocolate. He takes a few steps forward and Kyra retreats back a few steps, keeping the void between them even. "Come on Kyra, it'll be just like old times. You and me."

"Brandon, it's over, okay?" It's been over."

"Oh no Kyra, it's far from over…"

-- The moogle opens the gift and it explodes, and he says "Owee kupo…." Meanwhile the imp had covered it's ears, saying "Later, later, kupo! He go boom kupo!"--

"Ah hah!" exclaims Hadriel walking into the church during the after-service hours. The grand, empty interior of the church echoes with his holy voice.

The other two angels look up from a one-sided game of chess, where Izual had knocked off most of Tyrael's pieces.

"Checkmate," Izual claims in a bored voice. Tyrael grunts. "Third game," the False Angel. The commanding angel hands a white chocolate bar to his victorious comrade.

"Oh boy. Angels that gamble," the withered priest mutters, walking by and shaking his head. "What is this world coming to…" The old, gray-haired priest mumbles, carrying a Bible, as he walks along the nave of the church while Hadriel walks in through the large door at it's end.

"What have you found?" asks Tyrael.

"Well, I've just confirmed that there is a document that described the retirement of a Derek, who's last name is still unknown, from a carnival that has reappeared in this area. And I have something else to show you. Follow me," says the gray-clad angel excitedly as he leads the two back to the priest's study quarters. Hadriel turns on the travel-size, portable TV resting in the corner of the room with a simple flick of the wrist. On it's face flashes a female news reporter.

"With political debates causing recent uprising in civil unrest, people of today are seeking new ways of releasing the tension of stress. Studies from health officials say that stress is harmful to the body, and studies have shown that the number one stress relief is recently religion. Currently rising through the ranks of priest popularity and finally giving faith to those that were faithless, is the newest preacher Melvin…"

"So.. what does _this_ have to do with anything?" Izual says, getting nervous about Hadriel's discovery. If the Three were ever caught, it would mean the revealing of his alliance to them, plus the severe and unrelenting torture by the hands of the Prime Evils to any minion who had showed failure. He didn't want to be among those minions…

"Shhh… Just watch," says Hadriel.

"Appearing out of nowhere, Melvin's religious stature is rising at an astounding rate. Although this new priest is pointing his sermons in a whole new direction, he claims that the sole deity of his religion, this entity 'Mephisto'-"

'Crap,' thinks Izual.

"-although the name is believed to be a derision of Mephistopheles from the play by Goethe, or devil, he claims that he has achieved absolute solace in the name of his newfound religion. Just a few months ago, Melvin had temporarily resigned from his profession and is currently residing in a location unknown to the populace…"

"That guy's a false heathen," the old priest behind the angels says harshly from his desk.

"As I have thought," comments Hadriel.

"Excellent!" says Tyrael, getting up. "Now we know that Mephisto exists somewhere within this region."

"Thus meaning that the other Two would be somewhere near," Hadriel adds.

"But we must hurry, for if our greatest fears should come true, and the Three unite, the mortal plane shall be doomed…"

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More suspense! Haha! Yeah right… Oww, my hand. I need to get a life. Anyway (There I go saying it again!) I tried my best at drama. So poo. Here's the votes peeps! Hmmm… maybe I should start a vote on which guy (or girl) is the hottest!

Salem: 2

Brian: 4

Selena: 2

Derek: 2

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Tyrael: 0

Hadriel: 0

Izual: 0

Azmodan: 0

Belial: 0


	15. Soulstones For The One You Love

Wow! I gots reviews! Awesome! 57 baby! I'm aimin' for 100! Ermm… Anyway (There's that word!) here's the next chappie. I think most know to vote for your favorite character already. J Now on to reader acknowledgements:

To Katz-Go-Moo: Whoo! You review every time! If my email account worked, I would email ya' but unfortunately it does. --cries--

To Gdog4evr: Yay! You have come back! I love long reviews! That poor story of your's. It hasn't been updated in a year. Lol. Ah! The site you were going to tell me where to put my pics didn't show.

To Samuel Tong: Hehe. Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, it IS hard to imagine a demon liking a human, isn't it?

Disclaimer: Moogles and Diablo stuff belong not to me.

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--'Ohh the humanity, kupo.." the moogle stutters, now a pile of ash. "At the school kupo," the imp says, staring at the smoldering mass.--

The Prime Evils sit together in history class with Mephisto correcting the teacher in every chronological error in the events of the Dark Ages. Brian taps his pencil irritably on the desk, looking around anxiously. He doesn't quite know why though. Derek notices his brother's irritability.

"What's wrong?" he asks, concerned.

"I… I don't know," the black-clad teenager looks around at Rika, who was the only one of the three girls who had History class with them. "Something's not right…"

"Hmm… You just stole too many candy bars for one day. Don't worry. Your hyper-ness will wear off," Derek says, trying to console his brother.

"No, it's not that…"

"Well, if your anxious about getting out of school and destroying something, then you're just gonna' have to learn to how to control it."

"Nah. S'not that either… I just don't think that we're alone."

"Of course not, just look around-"

"I mean _alone_ alone…"

"Oh… Who do you think it might be?"

Just then, the bell rings, signaling the end of the school day. Derek gathers his stuff quickly, scooping up his books and shoving them into his crimson knapsack, to catch up to with his already departing brothers and Rika. Brian looks back at his younger sibling when Amanda saunters over to Derek. "Hey Derek," she chimes cheerfully.

The misfortunate demon tries to reluctantly pull away but she just holds on to his arm like a leech. He takes on the look of one who is held in a prison. 'Poor Derek,' Brian thinks unsympathetically.

Brian sighs, remembering that both he _and_ Derek had after school detention. Of course Brian had detention for winning a fight against the top-ranked bully of the student 'social system' and for stealing candy bars at the snack bar. But in Derek's case, he is going to detention for sneezing in the class of the infamous, dreaded Mr. Axem's class, also known as 'the Axe' because he enjoys cutting down people's self-esteem.

Ben Axem is an old, 'stuck-up' man who enjoys wearing an odd, plaid assortment of clothing. He also revels in the telling of his role in World War II (he had been a milk man surplus provider to the armies), the confiscation of 'certain magazines' that he caught teenagers reading, and his most favorite leisure was assigning students to detention for the slightest reason.

Mephisto mumbles at Brian's side, seemingly unaware of Derek's predicament. "If anyone catches me in this misguided house of false knowledge, my social influence will weaken my religious façade…"

--"Er hem, kupo. After-school detention, kupo," the imp says, now alone.--

Derek sighs as the class filters out of the room for the end of the after-school detention session. He still can't shake Kyra out of his mind. Sure Amanda was just something, a puppet, used to make Kyra jealous, but had he overdone it? He hadn't even seen her leave with Salem and Rika. He looks at Brian, who still seemed wary.

The dark-haired teenager stops in mid-stride, Derek almost bowling into him.

"Hey… Do you smell food?" Although demons didn't need physical sustenance, while on the human plane, the Three had developed a liking towards consuming food rather than people. Almost. However, it didn't seem to Derek the Brian would think of food at a time like this, especially since Baal ate the least.

But Derek takes a whiff of the air anyway and, sure enough, he _does_ smell food. More like burnt food. '_Why would they be serving food in the cafeteria now?' _he thinks, since the cafeteria, located beside the detention building, is closed after-hours.

His older brother tugs on his sleeve and the two curious demon lords head towards the cafeteria. Their footsteps echo loudly in the abandoned hall. Usually any student who dared trespass into a school building after-hours would fear that someone from the school's staff would find them. But not Derek. He has no fear of any school authorities if they were to be caught wandering the halls. In fact, he was fear _itself._ It is ironic to him how he was startled by what met his vision as they arrived at the entrance of the café.

As they enter, a blast of immense heat assaults them, sending a faint wave of nostalgia running through the two demon monarchs. Curiosity drives them to find the source of such intense heat. Derek looks around and notices that every microwave, oven, and stove were either openor turned on to it's fullest heat. Every refrigeration unit seems to be missing as well.

The temperature is nothing to the Brian and Derek, but would be almost unbearable to an average human. Derek growls when he sees Kyra tied to an upright table against a searing wall, tied in chains in a way that would remind one of Christ in a passion play. Her head jerks up when she sees Derek, her face reddened by the heat, tender and pained.

"Derek! Help me!"

The demon starts to run towards her when an icy voice causes Derek to halt. He turns.

"I just abhor this cool weather, don't you?" asks the teenager with a scar on one eye. He is leaning back on another table with his hands folded behind his head. A devilish grin is plastered on his face, eyes gleaming a faint sort of crimson, matching the backdrop of the fires rising from a flaming stoves turned on full blast. Over his white shirt, he is wearing a black sweater that hangs low, as if something solid hid in the pockets. He slowly gets up and stretches.

"Belial, the Shape Shifter…" Diablo hisses through clenched teeth. "Let her go," he commands, looking at Kyra, whose eyes were fluttering closed and her head slumping down.

"I don't think so, _master. _You don't really believe I would let you win so easily, did you? We have rules to the game you know…"

"What do you want?" steps in Baal, glaring menacingly at their traitorous minion.

"Your soulstones…" Belial breathes, stepping over to Kyra and lightly tracing a sharp nail over her forehead. The helpless girl flinches. "…And your lives…" He turns towards them, slitting her skin slightly, a thin line of blood trailing between her closed eyes. "I mean, you love her, don't you?" He lifts her seemingly-lifeless head brusquely. " Your powers for the one you love. With your soulstones, I shall conquer Heaven, Hell, and everything between. I will dispose of Azmodan after I dispose of you, and once you are out of the way, all shall be mine to rule." 

--"I'm back again kupo! At the angels, kupo!" the moogle chants while the irritated imp says, "Arg, kupo."--

"Yes. I think this is the place," says Hadriel, nodding.

The angelic trio stands outside of the sprawling high school campus. Hadriel delights in his ability to gather information, thanks to the newfound miracle called an 'internet'. Tyrael congratulates Hadriel, while Izual glances around nervously. '_We shouldn't be here. _I_ shouldn't be here,'_ he thinks frantically.

"According to my information, no one should be here except for 'wrong-doing' mortals that must attend a 'detenshon'. Erm… Yes. If the Three are disguised as mortal juveniles, then I believe they would be here, for this is where this Derek's friends attend a 'skool'. It is in the Prime Evils' blood that they should get into trouble," deduces Hadriel.

"You are absolutely sure that they would be here?" asks Tyrael.

"Absolutely." Hadriel is first to enter the 'Detenshon' building, followed by his two companions.

Izual is the last to follow, lagging behind and thinking, '_Dead angel walkin'…"_

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Okay. So this is a somewhat short chappie, but don't worry! There's more to come! --jumps on top of computer table-- I think I've finally snapped out of my laziness! --sits back down-- No wait! Nevermind. Here's the votes (including what they want to say to get you to vote for them!):

Salem: 2 ("Umm… Vote me?")

Brian: 4 ("Hehe. I'm hot! Vote me!")

Selena: 2 ("Voties pleez!" --smiles cutely--)

Derek: 2 ("Yo.")

Kyra: 4 ("I wants votes!" --jumps around--)

Rika: 3 ("No comment…")

Melvin: 2 ("Worship me mortal fool!")

Tyrael: 0 (--currently drunk--)

Hadriel: 0 ("Hmm… A voting campaign? Very well. Vote me." )

Izual: 0 ("Don't bother. I'm dead anyway.")

Azmodan: 0 ("--eyes widen as camera pans to his face-- "Umm… I shall destroy you?")

Belial: 0 ("The author scares me…")

Hobo Guy: 1 ("I'm back!" --currently drunk--)


	16. I'll Sacrifice For You

Oh yeah! Hiya everyone! Hmm… It seems I just had the sudden urge to update this story as well as mah others! Wow. It's kinda creepy. Hello to everyone and oh yeah! I will miss you Kyra! Yes you! I hope you'll still be reading this story all the way in South Carolina! J Hmmm… I wonder where Rika is. HEY RIKA! ARE YOU READING THIS TOO! Anyway, does anyone know how I can save all the crap I've typed into my comp so if I have to replace this computer I'm using I can load the story info on the new comp? Just wondering. Please help! Sorry to keep you all in suspense for so long but I was beginning to have evil doubts about my writing skills.. --curls into ball in the corner of room-- As for the pictures, I'm not sure I should put them up yet. People will steal! MINE! And now a shout out to all mah reviewers!

To headache-with-pictures: Thank you very much for the compliment! I likey your stories too!

To Quentin: Hiya person I know! Hehe. Thank you for your supports and reviews! Your momma kupo!

To Scary Carey/ Almond Goddess: I will miss you!

To Aurora Elvenstar: I know you! Hehe. Umm… I hope you see this. Thank you for the review!

To All The Other Reviewers: THANK YOU THANK YOU! I looooove reviews. Gimmee more!

Disclaimer: Why must you plague me! I own not the works of Blizzards nor the thingies called moogles from Squaresoft.

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--"Dance kupo! At the demons, kupo!" the moogle says, dancing to the 'Why Can't We Be Friends?' song while the imp glares evilly at the moogle.'-- 

The demon Belial, Lord Of Lies, was often regarded in respect and fear by lower class demons during the reign of the Prime Evils. And those demons were right to fear him. You see, other demons, including even the Prime Evils, had to either possess or kill a human to take their victim's physical forms as their own. Belial, unlike any other demon, could actually take the shape of any physical appearance at will, often spinning a web of illusion and doubt upon his foes either on the battlefield or right in his enemy's own territory. This was a general that most sought to avoid at all costs. Unfortunately, Diablo didn't count in the 'most' category.

With the façade of Kyra's past inamorato Brandon, Belial cunningly devised that this would spur on his master's rage, sending him into an uncontrollable fury that would nevertheless blind the Prime Evil to most of his senses. Belial lunges, a blur of motion and color speeding towards Derek.

"You will not accept my offer to release your pathetic mortal?" the demon general taunts.

"Never. I _will_ free Kyra," Derek replies darkly.

"Then you are more a fool than I past believed," Belial says, claw-like nails on his hands reaching out for Derek's form, intent on drawing strength from the demon lord. At the last minute Derek ducks under his enemy's talon-like hands, bringing up his own claws in a sharp angle, slashing the shape shifter across the chest. Recovering a few feet away, Belial inspects his torn shirt momentarily as crimson slivers of blood stain it an unholy shade, drops sizzling upon the floor tiles. A smile creeps across his countenance. Never before had anything been as challenging as this, a battle between two colossal forces, melee-style… and he was going to savor every viscous minute of his master's torment once he'd defeated him. There were so many more horrible fates beyond death, especially for a demon.

Derek catches himself on a cafeteria table lest his own inertia topple him, the surface of the plastic form blazing hot, unbearable to human touch. He readies himself, coiling energy into his legs should the need to sprint arise. On the other end of the hellish scenario, Belial straightens as he reaches into the loaded pockets of his jacket.

His hands withdraw rising before his face. Eight, silver blades, four per hand fit snuggly between his fingers protracted from his fists, their crystalline surfaces radiant with the fiery glow of the burning cafetorium emblazoning all around, flames threatening to consume the entire building and all lying within. The grin never leaving him, Belial begins to knit the blades in the air, slowly advancing towards his foe again. Finally, Derek can see why such a display was made. It became obvious what Belial was trying to do, he was making something known; tiny runes were inscribed in the blades, allowing them to wreak havoc upon the flesh of an immortal being as if it were a mere mortal.

The demon weaves the knives in swift, skilled arcs, light dancing in macabre calligraphy into Derek's face and protective arms. Overhead, defiant protests from the ceiling made it known that the building was ready to collapse in upon itself at any moment. Delicious, mad glee mirrors in Belial's reptilian eyes as he recoils a fist to plunge into his enemy's chest.

Suddenly, an explosion of pain rips through Belial's head as he is knocked away, sending him reeling into a set of flaming chairs resting against one wall of the rapidly dilapidating place. Blood traces a quicksilver line down the corner of his mouth, which he spits away and looks up.

Of course. He'd forgotten the Lord Of Destruction, intervening to protect his precious little brother. In the past, Baal had been revered as a dangerous opponent as well, recognized as one of the most relentless, merciless, and skilled demons in all of Hell. With extra help from the multitudes of razor-tipped tentacles that were part of his body and his expert knowledge of arcane magicks, thanks to the fool Tal Rasha, this particular Prime Evil was an army of himself. However, Belial notices with much bewilderment, the Lord Of Chaos had chosen to remain in his feeble mortal form, cutting away much of the leverage Baal could've had in this battle. Why had he chosen to weaken himself in such a way? What was there to hide? The rebellious general's maddened glee became a malicious exhilaration.

Brian sidles next to his wounded brother, both preparing to sear Belial with demonic fire and lightning, radiant energy clustering about their palms, eyes alight and intense. However, intervention strikes a second time, the two Prime Evils barely avoiding the serrated, biting edge of a wicked sword. A bat-like form of a black, swirling coat coagulates beside Belial, Azmodan joining his fallen comrade. A glittering, infernal blade shines in his grip, his cape-like coat snapping in the heat-spawned draft.

"Having a bit of trouble?" the auburn-haired demon asks sarcastically. Belial simply grunts and struggles back up from the heap of broken chairs.

By now, every wall of the cafetorium is aflame and hungry embers climb large, cloth curtains that cover the buildings windows. The gathered demons stare each other down, paying no mind much to the rising temperature. Kyra, however, began writhing in her chains even in her unconscious state, the metal bonds becoming unbearably hot.

The opposing evil forces lunge once again towards each other, the Prime Evils possessing speed and power, and the two generals using treachery and predictability on their side as well as actual weapons designed especially for such an encounter. Blood decorates the surrounding tables and floor. Baal, locked in combat with the sword-wielding Azmodan, has so far dodged everything that had been thrown his way, including the various obstacles like the cafeteria chairs and upended trash bins strewn around the area. Using meager spells, truly the only ones available to him at this moment, to deflected Azmodan's constant attacks, Baal felt much nostalgia running through his mortal frame; waves of ruthless slaughter and heartless bloodshed in which he'd reveled before, came roiling back into his mind, somewhat slightly sickening him now as he parried the silver edge of the general's blade.

Diablo, on the other hand, fought the knife-wielding Belial with his own bare hands, wanting nothing more than to wrap his palms around the general's throat and slowly let the seemingly immortal life leak from the rebellious demon's mouth. Skillfully dodging most of his assailant's onsets and appearing to pay no mind to the red-hot slashes that slit along his skin, Diablo became more and more enraged as Belial had planned. The Prime Evil knew that every precious bit of life was slowly dripping from the beloved Kyra with every second spent in combat with the shape shifter. The baking tiles of the building begin to fracture beneath Derek's feet, the demon's eyes alight with an internal fire of their own. Belial's smirk disappears as a crackling, unholy, horizontal pillar of fire sweeps it's way towards the demon general from Diablo's direction, capable rending him into a smoldering pile of demonic ash…

Barely deflecting it time with the aid of the enchanted blades, Belial notices at the last minute that this attack from his master had been merely a distraction. Diablo had bolted for his treasured human.

Derek can feel his foe pounding after him, he only a few feet from Kyra. Behind him, the form of Brandon shifted, growing larger, more reptilian, more dangerous. A gurgling, wet roar resounding off the walls in a vile, profane echo told Derek that he had more to worry about than just a few cuts from a blade now. Meanwhile, Brian found himself confronting a transforming foe as well, Azmodan's body contorting and snapping as he once again donned the bat-like creature form first encountered by the girls at the daycare. Crumbling chunks of the roof rained down upon the Prime Evils and their changing adversaries. Belial's form was indescribable beyond anything born of this world save that it could've compared to an ungodly, twisted chameleon that was colossal in size to the extent that it's massive, bony head collided momentarily with the ceiling.

Jagged rows of needle teeth met Derek's left arm, dragging him across the floor and widening the gap between him and the unfortunate girl. The chameleon beast flings Derek through one of the tables, splitting it into two halves. Derek flinches in insurmountable agony, his own blood trickling from his torn left arm and face. '_Kyra, Kyra…'_ is all that he can think of though. Saving her was the least he could do before Belial finally destroyed his master. An impossibly huge and gnarled claw wrenches the poor demon lord from his crumpled heap by his leg, claws ripping into his calves. To Derek's right, he can see that Azmodan too had resorted to grabbing Brian and plowing him into the walls via aerial assault, the bat creature's papery wings clapping as he circled about to repeat his battery on the Lord Of Chaos. But it took more than _that_ to defeat a demon lord…

Suddenly, the brilliance of daylight flood into the hellish scene, creating a blinding halo around three figures…

'--"Whew kupo. That's ALOT of words kupo!" the moogle comments, now bugging the crap out of the imp. The imp says, "At the angels, kupo. Silence kupo!"--

It had been the rising sentinel of smoke that had alerted them, Hadriel the first to point it out to his comrades. A thick, black blanket soaring into the air over the campus.

"Odd. Why ever would a mortal building be aflame than by the hand of an infernal denizen?" Hadriel says.

The trio of seraphim make their way towards the burning cafeteria instead of their initial route to the Detention building.

"Be on guard everyone," Tyrael commands, each angel withdrawing their weapons for what was surely to be quite an encounter.

Pushing their way in through the smoldering doors, the angels' greatest fears stood before them. "So, demons have finally leaked their way onto the mortal plane…" the archangel leader whispers, bolting into the room with his comrades trailing behind every step of the way. Running mostly on instinct, Tyrael and Hadriel advance upon the two creatures in lieu of the more human-like forms who seemed to be losing to the beasts, rushing over the various obstacles of the cafetorium in great haste. Izual, however, knew well from the awful feeling in his gut that the losing party happened to be his own secretive masters. A blast of rising heat sailed against his face, buffering the fallen archangel's resistant body . Catching a surprisingly grateful glance from his lords, he too rushed the monstrosities. The two, evil abominations howl their rage as Tyrael's _Azurewrath_, Hadriel's _Mourning Glory_, and Izual's _Shadowfang_ bite into their tainted skin, the archangels intent on at least subduing the demons before assessing the situation completely. _Demons first, questions later._

From the corner of his malicious eye, Belial can see the broken Prime Evils taking this chance to release the bonded human, Derek carefully yet hurriedly placing her unconscious self over his wounded shoulder, the chameleon demon unable to do anything about it. Success was slipping rapidly away. His angry bellow echoes loudly as Brian and Derek, retreating to a backdoor exit through a flaming alcove of a kitchen, fleeing back to wherever it was they hid…

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Whew! Okay! Wow! This is two day's worth of typing and I am tired. HOly crap! I just read it in like five minutes! What the heck is this? All my blood and soul poured into this and it doesn't even last me an eyeblink! I wanna break down and cry. Yay! Okay so this chapter was rather foreboding in the sense that you can see what kind of trouble the Three are up against now… How do ya' like it? Review, review, review! Mayne it'll cheer me up. Eek… even these ending comments are eating my fingers. Ouch… And now for the votes: 

Salem: 3

Brian: 4

Selena: 3

Derek: 3

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Tyrael: 0

Hadriel: 0

Izual: 0

Azmodan: 0

Belial: 0


	17. Could You Ever Forgive Me?

--Rises from the dead-- Rawr! I'm backkk! Yay! Yes, I know you all missed me so… I've decided to do another chappie! Yay! Oooo high school kills. XX Hiya Kyra! I miss you! Anyway, please vote for your favorite character! It makes them happy! HApPy! Also, pweez REVIEW! La!

To Arsenel: Hehe. Thanks for the compliment! Derek IS cool. Lol.

To ShadowCelest117: Yay! Thankies! I'll try harder to meet your standards! Mwaah!

To Kiba: I know yoU! --pokes--

To The Fan With A Really Long Name: Lol, thankies for adding me to your looong name! I feel special! Rawr! XD Lol! Don't get shocked! It's not good for your skin :P LOL! Anyway, I'm not holy. --pokes salem/ff/inuyasha/anime fan-- See? You should've started flying in the air if I was holy. --salem/ff/inuyasha/anime fan starts flying-- Holy shuh-shmoo! I wish I could publish this! Yay! Go soda! OO

To Lord Profet: Wow! Thank you for your review and I'm glad you've been able to read fanfics again! Yay! I read your review one morning and it made my day. Hehe. I choked on my peanut butter sandwich in the process. Yay! I'm glad you're still a fan! WooT!

To All The Other Reviewers: I looove REVIEWS! Yay! I like nearly fell out of my seat with all the reviews! Yay! Make me fall outta my seat more! Mwah mwah! Haha. I bet almost all the people I've addressed above won't see their responses because they've prolly died of muscle atrophy just waiting for me to move my lazy butt. Yay!

Disclaimer: AhhhhH! --the Blizzard staff chases Salem with knives-- I swear! I didn't say I OWNED it! I borrowed! Borrowing is good. :)

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--The imp sidles up to the reader, "After the fight, kupo. Your mamma kupo!"-- 

Brian pants, however unaccustomed to actually breathing, and follows Derek into a building that lies a few miles from the school in which they'd fought, the encroaching afternoon swallowing their wounded forms. It is a strange, small building with a sign buzzing outside stating "Food MaRT" in glowing, red letters.

Since it is beginning to darken outside, the demon cringes against the violet fluorescent lights. Once inside, Derek carries the shocked, yet still slightly conscious Kyra to a corner behind the multitudes of shelves littered with tons of unorganized packaged snacks on them. While Derek is off trying to comfort the nerve-wracked girl and contact Mephisto through mental telepathy, Brian perches himself near the glass doors so as to lookout for either their elder brother or danger. A skinny, greasy man at the cash register, who always kept at least one hand out of sight under the counter, glares weakly at him. '_What does he think I'm gonna do? Rob him?'_ thinks Brian, staring intently back to unnerve the human more.

"_Who? What? When? Where! Why!"_ shouts the hysterical Kyra, her mind unable to process the horrific sights that weren't meant for mortal eyes. An old woman near the condiment section tries to act as if she'd hadn't heard, but fails. Her bulbous body twists to look around at the boy in the back and suddenly faints seeing a teenager covered in multiple wounds and drenched in blood. Brian shrugs, spilling more blood. _'So the two warlord haven't given up yet,'_ thinks the Prime Evil. _'They're back to finish their dirty work. And now the angels are in the neighborhood as well. It seems that things are getting too risky to expose ourselves openly. We must hurry along our plans if we are to live through it this time.'_

Outside, something large and dark as the voids of space flaps and makes a small 'thud' noise, as if landing. Cars out at the gasoline tanks screech away hurriedly like bats outta' hell, so to speak. Then Melvin waltzes in through the sliding glass doors, a black feather sticking from his hair, which he quickly discards.

"Where is the girl?" he asks simply.

Brian casually points behind him to the corner and his brother stalks off. The food mart clerk tries to lean over the counter to see where the priest was going, to make sure no on caused mischief in his store. No, no one would be allowed to cause trouble in _his_ store, not while _he_ was around to do something about it. At an uncomfortable angle, he sees the blonde girl standing before the priest, her head bent back with the priest's slender hand hovering over her upturned face. She seems as if in a trance-like state, eyes fluttering yet closed, as the other blond teenager watches helplessly to the side. Brian watches as well, as he and Derek wave slightly with their hands so as to remove any traces of blood on them. The clerk, however, misses this by the blink of an eye, not noticing the sudden change in the two teenagers, too intent on what these hooligans were up to. Brian listens as Mephisto mutters in an echoing voice, chanting slightly to the now unconscious female, "Xua rhell mus pibell, emx itimr shes her hennimic…"

'_You shall not recall any event that has happened,' _Brian deciphers in his head, a tad bit rusty in his own language ever since his voyage here on the mortal plane. He recalls how his elder sibling had done the same to the girls during the day-care incident.

And then Kyra's eyes shudder open…

--The moogle shivers, "I'm tired, kupo. Kyra, kupo."--

At first, she remembers floating through a strange world, a black space of a world of open doors, each doorway containing a glimpse of her life within their frames, like old black-and-white reruns of ancient programs long since buried by time. She finds herself drifting, as though the air is thick enough to support her and carry her along. The first door she sees has her entire fourteenth birthday reenacted within it, capturing the moment when she had dunked her face into the entire cake while her mother brung out a spare. The next door floats by and Kyra sees a glimpse of the first time she'd met Salem and Rika, the trio bumping into each other in a crowded hallway and laughing it off. A door to her left captures the moment when she had given a speech in Biology class on the topic of the spontaneous combustion of Twinkies. She can hear herself, her own voice echoing in her head. A large, red door looms before her, the handsome face of Derek framed in it, smiling as he took her to get some ice cream in the park. She cringes at the next door, a hideous, twisted thing, for it revealed the hideous monsters that had trapped her in the burning cafeteria. But as soon as she sees it, everything she knows is lost for a moment, she is nobody in a tiny pinch of Eternity. It is as if all the lights in this unknown space had suddenly winked out, and had left her there in the darkness.

Finally, the doors blink back into existence. The ugly door before her is closed however and it bugs her that she can't remember what was in it.

Then, she had awoken…

The food mart's blaring lights flood her vision as she feebly urges her eyes open. Her body feels slightly numb. She sees Melvin and soon her voice returns to her.

"W-Where am I?" she asks weakly.

"You are in a food mart," replies the unemotional Melvin, standing directly before her, looming over her simple form.

Her body becomes less numb and she swiftly turns around and sees Derek, then notices Brian standing near the entranceway. Her eyes widens as an idea dawns on her, a possible reason why she was alone with three men.

"Eew! Perverts! Rapistses!" she shouts, trying to scoot away from them.

Melvin has a disgusted look, "I would never…"

Derek places a hand on her arm to calm her. "Kyra. You know we're not rapists," he explains, formulating a simple fib to cover up their tracks. "Me and Brian found you passed out in the cafeteria when we got out of after-school detention, so we thought you would recover here if you got a drink or something."

"Oh…" she hesitates. "Thanks." Something in his words causes her to believe him, despite their past differences, and she relaxes, realizing how farfetched her accusation is. She slowly walks around, deciding she wanted a drink and buys one from the skittish clerk. Diablo eyes the two brothers. Brian and Melvin sigh, walking to the farthest end at the back of the store, giving their younger brother some 'alone time'.

'I don't even know why Diablo chose a different human in the first place. He was only supposed to keep one, and that Amanda girl doesn't look very promising. It seems our hours spent here are slowly burdening us with human influences,' Brian shivers, wondering what had happened to his once blood-thirsty, destructive self…

--"At Derek, kupo. Do the wave kupo!" the imp says, doing the wave.--

Derek gulps, heading in the direction of Kyra. After seeing the peril she'd been in, he suddenly realized how much he would miss her if she'd gone, how much this strange thing called pain would engulf his dark heart seeing her there in agony under the warlords' torturous ways. That pain had felt even worse than the wounds of all the past battles combined. Although no sign of the previous battle shows on Derek, within, he is still very much wounded, his innards slowly trying to mend themselves. Every step he takes towards Kyra brings sudden pain shooting through his legs, but it was nothing like the anguish he'd felt in that burning cafeteria.

Kyra sips at her lemonade, leaning upon a counter, back turned towards Derek as he approaches. Her shoulders hunched, she turns her gaze towards something that is anything _but _Derek.

"Uhhh… listen Kyra. I was just thinking. Well, what I wanted to say was… I mean-"

"Don't' even try it," she says in a slightly harsh voice. "Just give it up Derek."

"Kyra…"

Kyra says nothing, doing her best to stay in the same position until the guy left. She can still feel him, unmoving in his spot as well. She can feel him, gazing sadly into her turned back. Her heart saddens, hearing her say such harsh words to the one she'd come to love. The memories of him come flooding back, so many memories, even though she'd only known him for a few months. But what about Amanda? What is to be said about his sudden and abrupt relationship with Amanda? It had hurt her too.

"Kyra, I…."

More silence.

"I'm sorry…this couldn't work out then…" Derek says sadly. A shifting sounds tells Kyra that is he moving now, slowly walking away in defeat. Her hurt lurches, wrenching in pain, tears threatening to blur her vision.

Derek turns away from her, stepping slowly, more painfully.

"Wait," Kyra's crystal voice says from behind him. "Tell me…" she hesitates again, holding back some tears. She can't cry now, that would mean giving in. "Why… Why did you… leave me, for Amanda?"

Derek turns slowly around, the blonde human now facing him. "Well, I thought… maybe fell for another guy." She remembers Brandon now, sneaking that awful kiss. Perhaps it was he who…

"Oh Derek. You saw him…?"

He nods slowly.

"And you thought… Oh, I didn't mean it! He must have done that on purpose. I'm so sorry Derek. It's all my fault that you misunderstood," she cries, her heart wailing. It is all her fault then, she realizes… "…All my fault," she whispers.

Derek shifts, looking Kyra onto the eyes. "No Kyra," he says sadly, moving closer to her, holding her arms. "_I'm _the one to blame. I mean, I'm the one who got all crazy and went out with Amanda. I guess…" he stops, the words flowing from his mouth unlike anything he'd ever heard or seen or spoken, "I guess, I got scared, afraid that I'd lost you … I could never live without… you… Could you ever give me second chance?"

Kyra's eyes well up, but she forces a smile upon her face, leaning into Derek's arms. She giggles a little. "I forgive you… cheese head…" He looks down, surprised that she'd given in so soon. "You'll have to dump Amanda first," she says smiling, "I hope that won't be too hard on you."

"Eh… She was bad company anyway. She can't stop talking…." They both laugh together, a sweet sound, emanating throughout the perfect night...

* * *

Okay! Wow! I did it! I finished a chappie! --Mother cries as if this were Salem's graduation-- OO So how'd you like it? Was it beautiful? Did it stink? Is your day okay? How is your spleen? Blah, my love scene is crappy.I'm sorry it's so short. X-X I'll go shoot myself.--Shoots herself-- BOOM! --Rises with a gaping head wound-- Anyway, a thanks to all of you guys out there who still support me and continue to read this crappy crap fic! Thank you for the reviews too guys! I LOVE THEM! Rolls around in them like money Anyway, I know this is a shortish entry, but hey, what can you expect? I did it, right? Peace! And now for the voties: 

Salem: 3

Brian: 4

Selena: 3

Derek: 4

Kyra: 4

Rika: 3

Melvin: 2

Tyrael: 0

Hadriel: 0

Izual: 0

Azmodan: 0

Belial: 0


	18. Everyday Evils

Hehe! Hiya peoples! How ARE yoU! I love you all! Yaya! Anyway, thankies for da comforting reviews (I decided not to hurt myself) all thanks to you! Did any of you at least feel a BIT of the emotion I was tryin to portray in the last chappie? Didja? Anyway…Yay! Heh. Now remember to review, kiddies! It'll make your mamas proud! What the HECK AM I TALKING ABOUT! Oh yeah! Please vote for your favorite character as well! Derek, Kyra, and Brian are in the lead! Ooo I can't WAIT till I finally end this story. Doesn't that sound FUN? Hehe. Yeah. That's the reason besides school that I'm taking so long to update! I'm working on the ending! Mwhahahahha. Now fo' mah reviewer acknowledgements.

To Arsenel: Thank you for reviewing again! Yay! I guess I'll put the gun down :P Haha. Three is a good number. J Oh and the voting thing is just to see who everyone's fav. character is.

To Avatar Of Fyre: Wow! Thankies for the reviews on all mah stories! They make me happy:) Wow. That's a lot of votes. Oo

To ShadowCelest117: Wow! You actually look FORWARD to mah stories? --sniffles-- You gonna make me cry tears of happiness. Yay! Tyrael says thank you for the vote, by the way. :)

To headache-with-pictures: Hehe. Yay! Catch your breath man!

To Schizophrenic Jester: Whoo! Yay! It seems I have drawn yet another innocent into my evil web of lies and deceit and evilness! I mean…. uhh… Thankie you for reviewing! I guess I'll add the moogle to the voting pool. XD Your review made me soooo happy! It's nice to think I'm actually doing this for more than just sheer boredom. But wait, isn't that what fanfics are for! Okay, then I'd like to know I'm just not wastin my time TRYING to be good. :) I need to be reminded constantly. Hehe…

To Necromancer and Sorcerer: Hehe! Glad for the support! Thankies. :)

To All The Other Reviewers: Yay! Thanks for all the support people! If, though impossible, I DO get the consent of the Blizz co. to let me do it and I publish this thing, I'ma remember you all! Haha. Like publishing will ever happen… --sigh-- Yeah… --grabs fork-- Ooo, self-infliction tool. Pretty…

Disclaimer: La la la. You can't sue me! You OWN ME AND my fic Blizzard! ('cept for the Squaresoft moogles)

* * *

--"Zzz, kupo…" says the slumbering moogle, "The next day kupo…"-- 

That faithful afternoon, the Three had brung Kyra safely home. Derek had relayed the same situation to the two worried girls and they had calmed. In fact, Salem had begun to see a soft side in these men, who so randomly and fortunately came into their lives just recently. So, today it had been decided that the Prime Evils would stay home and watch over Selena. This was because the boys had strangely refused to go to school this morning and since Salem had a strange fear of sending Selena off to daycare for some odd reason that she couldn't quite pinpoint yet. This proved to be an accommodating agreement.

Selena's history with past babysitters is quite known and should be, in fact, documented so as to warn and safeguard all unfortunate teenagers just looking for a bit of cash. It would seem only a coincidence that two of the first babysitters went off to wear the ever-so-lovely straight-jackets and bounce around off the padded walls after a full day of watching Selena. This however, was not a coincidence as it became an apparent pattern to Salem. The rest.. well, you wouldn't want to know. However, it seemed to Salem that the boys skipping school today proved to be a heavenly boon. She only hoped that she'd have a boyfriend to come home to this evening…

--The imp stares at the moogle saying, " At the guys, kupo. Why is he sleeping kupo!"--

After the first thirty minutes from when the girls had left for school, Brian is beginning to think that his girlfriend's sister was a thing created from things far eviler than, say, himself. At the moment, he is currently being chased around the house because Selena wanted to play something called 'Operation' on him, which in fact, did not involve tweezers and a little buzzing light bulb, but a rather a large assortment of sharp, stain-less steel tools.

If one were to actually research a demon, they would come to find that it takes quite a bit of spiritual and physical power to hold all those mortal cells together into a workable, believable state; in essence, the Prime Evils thought they needed a break from their human forms for awhile. Thus, both Diablo and Mephisto sit on the couch in their demon forms, watching Baal flee from Selena. Diablo's yellow eyes follow the two's movements, his large, crimson, reptilian body sprawled crookedly upon the couch, careful to keep from skewering the dilapidating thing. Mephisto is perched at the opposite end, his skull-like face scowling at Diablo for nearly squashing him, his skeletal arms ready to push his brother off the couch if ever Diablo even _thinks_ of touching him. The Lord Of Hatred, though lacking the ability to actually 'sit' through the loss of his abdomen which was replaced with swirling, evil mist filled with rather annoying, talkative souls in it, 'sits' and watches the scene unfold as well. Little Selena doesn't seem to mind being in the company of the three demonic sovereign of Hell at all, she'd seen scarier things at Spencers.

"Er…Selena, do you like fire?" Diablo asks, thinking Baal had had enough torture for one day. It is ironic to him that the torturer be tortured.

"Ooo! Yes! Fire!" she shouts, running to the demon and hopping up and down excitedly.

Mephisto stares at his youngest brother. "Do you think that's safe?"

"Of course," he turns to the tiny girl, while Baal catches his breath off in the background. "Okay Selena. Hold out your hand."

She does so, with her palm facing upward, both confused and expectant. Diablo murmurs something under his deep breath, then blows a small spout of fire into her hand. The flame coalesces into a small ball of flame that floats in her palm.

"It's perfectly harmless," the demon lord states. "It'll only go away if you close your hand or if I end the spell. Just… uhh… don't touch the imps or let anyone see. Okay?"

Selena smiles up at him, "Okies!"

She stares at her palm and starts trying to wave the flame out to no avail. Then, she runs around the room, trying to start things afire with no success as well. All the imps in the room, capable of being set afire, fling themselves away as fast as they can. Finally, the happy girl begins repeatedly smacking herself in the head with her hand.

"Safe huh?" remarks Mephisto, watching the child hit herself to near-unconsciousness.

"Er.. How about we do something else Selena," Diablo says worriedly, as he extinguishes the flame.

Selena stumbles clumsily toward them as Baal sits down with the two. '_She's worse than Belial and Azmodan combined,' _Baal thinks. Then, instantly, she perks up.

"Ooo! I wanna play wit' da' monsta' people!" She runs over to Baal, who now changes to his demon form, and she tugs on a tentacle. "Me wanna play jump rope!"

"What!"

"Jump rope!"

"I suggest you do so Baal, unless you want her to start stabbing you with the scissors again," suggests Mephisto.

Thus began a long, strenuous hour of jump rope. While Baal is occupied, Mephisto pulls out and reads a book titled '_Death For Dummies'_ while Diablo is busy wondering how many candles he would have if he had a birthday…

--The moogle rises, "Me up now, kupo. Later on, kupo!"--

When the girls arrive home from school, they hadn't expected to see what they were about to see.

"Hiya!" Selena says. "Come with me, pweez," she say cutely, leading the girls into the living room and seating them on the couch. "And now! Da' Gweatest Show On Earth! Pwesenting Mr.Funkyhead, Brainyhead, and Dewek!" Nothing happens…

"I _SAID_ presenting Mr.Funkyhead, Brainyhead, and Dewek!" she says louder and more evilly.

Sighing, the three demons, now in their humans forms, walk helplessly out into the room. Salem's eyes widen, Rika stifles a snicker, and Kyra suddenly bursts into a fit of laughter, rolling around on the floor, clutching her stomach, tears forming in her eyes. There the defeated Prime Evils stand, clad entirely in an extra set of their girlfriends' overly small clothes, with hair bows as an addition.

"Ugh.. Perverts.." Salem says.

"I don't think it's their fault," Rika says, on the verge of a laughing outburst too.

"Hey, don' look at _me,_" Selena says, sounding innocent as can be.

Kyra is still rolling on the ground, her laughs becoming snorts, which then sets off Rika's outburst.

"Hey! That's not funny!" the guys protest in unison.

"We were playing dress-up!" Selena says.

Salem looks down at Selena and smacks herself in the head. One more look at the three guys causes Salem to feel her seriousness slipping away. She can't help taking a picture, then laughing herself…

-- "Even later, kupo," says the imp. --

An exceptionally aggravated Alex a.k.a. Azmodan stumbles into someone's backyard, leaving a trail of crimson behind in the grass and on the sidewalk of the quiet, unknowing town. Having barely escaped the angels from yesterday's inevitable encounter with the seraphim, his multiple wounds would not heal until a few days, the result of the magical properties imbued into angelic weapons. His fist clenches, causing more blood to leak from his hand. He walks through the gate of a white fence, stepping onto the clearly manicured lawn and near one of the human's 'abodes'. He can sense a presence nearby, something warm and fleshy and alive. Looking up, the wounded demon sees a squat, beer-bellied man wallow onto his porch, can in hand, and stare at him angrily, defensively.

"Yo, Agent Moulder. You wanna get off my lawn or do I need ta' call the cops?" he shouts indignantly.

From the house a feminine voice shouts as well. "Rick? Rick? Stop shouting at people on the street! It's too dangerous outside! Come inside honey!" she says pleadingly as if the world were pointing guns at their house. But they had grabbed the attention of something far worse.

"Quiet woman!" the man swivels around and calls. "There's some guy here on our _property!_ He's right here…" But the strange auburn-haired man was gone, a crimson pool marking where he used to be. The man curses and looks around, bewildered. He shrugs, turns around, and begins to head inside, when he runs into the same figure from his lawn, now only an inch away and looking thoroughly pissed. Let's just say his death consisted more of resting in pieces, not peace.

Blake a.k.a. Belial strides around the side of the house just in time to hear screams of the man's wife being torn apart like her spouse. The demon leans on a porch rail, casually waiting for his temporary counterpart to cool down some. After a few minutes pass, Azmodan reappears, waving the humans blood off of him with a mere hand gesture.

"'You finished?" Belial asks tentatively.

"Yeah," replies Azmodan in a collected voice. He straightens up and adjusts his tie. "Let's go. There's much work to do. We must find those three before they come to full power." Nothing else in the world seems to matter to the demon.

Without another word, the demon stalks ahead, clouded in a shroud of dark purpose. A police cruiser coasts along past them and down the road ahead and Azmodan glances back at his partner. '_If the Three refuse to fight us, then I'll give them something worth staying for,'_ the rebel demon thinks. "I'll be back Belial…"

--The moogle dances, merely saying "Kupo, kupo, kupo!"--

Officer Brent was just a normal guy drivin' around, patrolling the neighborhoods, and doing what any sane cop would do; dream about cream-filled pastries, of course. But when he got a call from the operators about some neighborhood disturbance, he was on it faster than a turtle in a fish tank; that's just the kind of guy he was.

Now, it's not everyday you see an FBI agent walking along the sidewalk wearing shades. Yes, shades were very suspicious. Besides, FBI were most commonly seen around flashing lights and police tape that says "DO NOT CROSS" and looking grim. Maybe he is just some strange man who has an affinity for looking like an agent. Most likely this is so.

Brent slows his cruiser to a stop alongside the sidewalk. "Excuse me sir," he says, stepping out of the car, "but are you an agent?"

The strange man looks up and stops near him. "Me? Oh no, please forgive my attire sir."

"Ah," Officer Brent says, nodding. '_Just as I thought.'_ "Okay, well I was wondering if you've heard anything disturbing or unsettling just recently, like screams, say? I got a call from some ladies down the street about something that sounded like screams."

"Why actually yes, officer, I did, in fact, hear screams. I was aiming to call the authorities as well, you see, but, seeing as you're here, you might want to check out that house just over there," Azmodan points behind the cop to the house that had belonged to the beer-bellied man.

"O-okay," he says, trying to appear as if he isn't afraid. Screams always seemed to make him weak in the knees, regardless of whether in movies or real life. He reaches for his gun and advances toward the house, muttering a "Thanks." while silently being followed by the smirking demon.

The officer steps onto the front yard of the house, noticing the acrid smell of blood in the air. When he looks down, he is startled to see so much of it painted upon the green, prosperous lawn, seeing it trail inside the house, its door ajar. '_Maybe I should call for backup,' _he thinks, but the constant gossip on the force concerning his spineless nature makes him think otherwise. He trudges on. Brent recalls several James Bond movies and a few COPS reruns he'd seen a few days ago, trying poorly to reenact them as he enters through the open door, leading into the black abyss of the house. Seeing yet more blood trails dragging into the house, he follows cautiously, holding his standard-issue police force gun in front of him and barges in.

"Police!" he shouts, trying to sound as imposing as possible, sweeping the gun across the room. "Freeze or-" He stares around at the darkened interior, the only shaft of light from the doorway making his shadow appear as a long, black figure streaked across the floor before him.

Suddenly, he notices strange bat-like wing silhouettes sprout from the shoulders of his shadow on the floor and he swivels around. The nozzle of his gun flashes once and that all familiar thundering sound in his ears, the force of the gun bucking his arms… but to no avail.. His world becomes a sea of red…

* * *

Hahah! I did it! Now if only you all could make my carpal tunnel go away, then I'd be very happy! Great! Thanks! Anyway I finally finished this chappie and my hands want to murder me! WHEE! I can't believe I did it! Hee! Now please review! I LOVE THEM! MWAHHAHAH! I really do! It makes my life worth while. J Hehe. Okies. So now for the votes!

Salem: 3 (+997)

Brian: 5 (+996)

Selena: 4

Derek: 5

Kyra: 5

Rika: 4

Melvin: 4

Tyrael: 11

Hadriel: 0

Izual: 0

Azmodan: 0

Belial: 0

Moogle: 1 (haha!)


	19. Just Another Day for Demons

Back for more eh? Mwahaha. Umm.. Yeah. Finally, another chappie for all of those who still read this fic. :D Whoo! I'm sleepy… Anyway, once again, thank you for all your reviews! I'm at ONE HUNDRED reviews now! YAY! However, it makes me sad to say that I can't acknowledge reviews anymore in this fic (except for the private response) because of that law they passed just recently on this site. Wahhh… Oh yeah, and a hug to all those who reviewed! Hooray. :D (P.S. Don't explode Salem/FF/Anime Fan!)

Disclaimer: I wish, I wish, I owned Blizzard and Squaresoft but I don't. Blah. I also wish I was a fish!

* * *

-- "Back at our heroes, kupo," the restless imp states.-- 

Kyra sits in her bed, still conscious, her hands folded behind her head as she stares up at the ceiling of her dark room. She focuses on a few infinitesimal cracks above her imbedded into the ceiling, but her mind is focused on the same hum-drum voices tickling the vestiges of her thoughts; a voice telling her that she was in grave danger, a danger beyond whatever she could comprehend. Another voice is telling her about that closed door in her mind, making her know that something was there but she just didn't know what, an annoying sensation that all three girls shared since their forgotten experience at the daycare. Outside, the solemn, solitary moon gazes through her window.

She shakes her head and gets up, seeing as she couldn't sleep, heading out into the living room. As she nears, voices can be heard from ahead.

"You guys are still up?" Kyra asks, seeing Melvin typing furiously fast on his laptop, working on his alleged religious website, Brian watching the screen with his eyes while trying to follow the words and failing. Obviously the guys had changed hurriedly back to their proper attire moments after the incident that afternoon. Little Selena is up as well, appearing from her sister's room, carrying used tube of lipstick.

Brian looks at the approaching Kyra, having received a sizeable headache from watching the racing words. "Yes, we are up. Why are you?" he asks quizzically.

"Eh. I can't sleep," she shrugs. "Musta' been all the caffeine I drank this morning. Hey Selena," she turns to the guilty-looking child. "What are you doing with that lipstick?"

"Les' just say 'dat Sawem will look prettier tommowo," she smiles.

Kyra shrugs again. "Oookay… Hey, where's Derek?"

"He is trying this '_sleep'_ you speak of," Brian replies.

"Oh." Kyra's brow furls, but she decides to ignore his strange talk. Instead, she stalks off toward his room with no particular intention other than trying to get some sleep. With the purpose of waking him, she hops into his bed. One of his normally-eerily-green-pupiled eyes slides open as result from the wakening.

"K-Kyra? Is there a problem?" Derek asks, slightly worried for his 'potential mate'.

"I can't sleep," she says in a cute, pouty-ish voice.

Derek smiles and nods, placing a reassuring arm over her shoulders. It must have been this caring gesture or the warmth of his closeness, but, for the first time in a long while, she fell instantly asleep. And they lay snuggled there all throughout the comforting night.

--"Boy, the author sure is lazy, kupo. Next day kupo," the moogle says. The imp looks angrily at the moogle saying, "You speak blasphemy kupo!"--

In the morning, Brian awakens to the sound of a scream and would've rather enjoyed it, had it not been his girlfriend's. Getting out of the bed, in which he never slept, he stalks over to his open door. Just then, he is almost bowled over by two forms whizzing past his doorway. He follows them, noticing that it is Selena being chased by Salem, whose face is scribbled upon by dark lipstick marks. He shudders inwardly. '_Well, _that _was scary,'_ he thinks to himself.

"Ah, the weekend…" Rika says, appearing from the kitchen, trying to ignore the warring siblings. "Where's Kyra?"

Before he can answer, Kyra waltzes out from around a corner. "Yo chili-cheese eatas'! What's up?"

"Ummm.. The sky?" replies a baffled Brian.

"Good one," Rika says.

Kyra bounces away, all happy-like.

"What's wrong with her?" Brian asks, as she hops away.

"A lot of things," Rika sighs.

Then, Derek appears from the same direction as the bouncy blonde, looking happier than usual. The demon of destruction looks at his younger brother with a '_what-did-you-do-to-her?' _look and Derek sends him back an '_all-I-did-was-hug-her'_ look, if such a thing were possible. Brian shrugs. '_I'll never even begin to understand these strange humans and their emotions,'_ he thinks to himself.

-- "Meanwhile, kupo," the imp says.--

Towards the afternoon, we see that the angels are walking through a crowd, all of the people trying to fit into a small shop with a seventy-five discount off all their shoes, some of which the Wildlife Preservation groups might not be too fond of. All three of them had cast upon themselves an invisibility spell so as not to disturb the rowdy crowd. Being invisible was just fine, the only flaw being that people could still hear you, and walking through a crowd while carrying out a conversation wasn't in the best interest of the populace, since people of the crowd were beginning to question their own sanity.

"Cowardly demons," comments a joyful Tyrael, joyful because it had been a somewhat successful battle against the demons and that they hadn't gotten themselves killed in the process. In fact, if one could actually see invisible angels, they would have noticed that the trio were almost virtually untouched. The only downside to their battle had been that the demons had gotten away just in the nick of time.

Izual grits his teeth at Tyrael's comment.

"I wonder where they've gone off to," says Hadriel while a lady to his right looks around in confusion. "They were quite powerful ones, but they seemed rather… distracted."

Silence closes over them as the seraphim weave through a part of the crowd with a particularly large density. The humans mill about, trying to push their way into the overcrowded shop. The store clerk inside begins to regret having not put up a maximum capacity sign. Suddenly a man bolts from the store, with armfuls of shoes while the clerk tries to push his way through the throngs of human bodies. "Stop, thief!" he shouts, wondering how many times that line had ever worked for anybody.

"Eh, I'll get that," Tyrael says, walking in front of the unknowing man.

"What the-!" the thief says, feeling his legs growing heavy, almost as if glued to the cement. Eventually the cops and the clerk arrive. Tyrael just smiles and resumes his pace alongside his companions.

"Sorry," Tyrael states to the others whom can be seen perfectly through the eyes of another angel, as they clear the mass of bodies, "'Can't help these impulses to do good. It's rather bothersome. Anyway, Did you notice anything… _different_ about those demons we fought yesterday?"

"Actually, yes," replies the talkative Hadriel. "Their demonic auras were much stronger than any of the subordinate demons we've come across."

"Who do you suppose they are?"

It is then that the silent figure of Izual speaks, looking more dismal with his hands jammed in his pockets and Shadowfang's scabbard clinking rhythmically against his hip.

"They were the two warlords and current leaders of Hell's armies."

"How do you know that?" asks Hadriel curiously.

"Simple. The monsters we fought bore the Daemon marks of the bat and the chameleon upon their right hand. In past wars after I was captured and rescued, you sent me on various missions against Hell, Tyrael, and rumor was, back then, that two subordinates of the Prime Evils were to stand against their masters soon and cause the beginning of the civil war of Hell . One was referred to as a great, horrid chameleon who could shift his form to anything he wished without the aid of attaining a body first. The other was as a powerful, winged creature that could only be compared to the form of a twisted bat. As you can see, they succeeded, making them as dangerous as the Prime Evils themselves."

"Excellent deduction Izual," Tyrael says delightedly.

Hadriel speaks next, asking innocently. "Indeed. But by your 'capture', are you referring to that time when you broke into Hell for the Shadowfang and were captured and then Tyrael himself had to rescue you?"

"The same," Izual says, gritting his teeth once more. It is lucky for him that they knew nothing of what had transpired then during his time in Hell, of the suffering and torture he'd had to endure, or of his allegiance to the Prime Evils. He grows quiet again.

Tyrael notices the static between the two. Ever since he'dbegun this whole mission, Hadrielhad becomeconstantly wary of the black-clad angel for some odd reason as time drew on. He, however, trusted the man with his life, for Izual and Hadriel were both his greatest generals and friends in war. "Erm… Changing the subject, I believe I saw some other figures briefly in the room during our battle with the demons. Did you?"

The false angel is surprised by this question, thinking, '_Damn. I can't help it if my masters are reckless fools. Why must I always cover up for them?'_ Seeing as Tyrael is walking a tad further than the other two, Izual's hands weave faintly at his side as he casts a silence spell upon Hadriel, rendering him speechless.

"Nope. Not at all. It could've been all those heat waves playing tricks on your eyes in there," he says, while Hadriel looks stunned and paws pathetically at his sealed lips. He wonders who had placed the spell on him.

"Must've been…." Tyrael shrugs.

"Mmph!" mumbles Hadriel. "_Mmmph!_"

"What's wrong with Hadriel?"

"Dunno," Izual smiles, "Demon's got his tongue?"

-- "Bite me, kupo!" the moogle says. "At night kupo!"--

While Azmodan was busy cavorting about to work on his own devices, Belial is busy conducting his own search for the Prime Evil's whereabouts from within the confines of an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town, their hidden 'sanctum'.

Unsure footsteps echo in the hollow, ancient building. Belial, sitting expectantly at an old, dilapidated table near the back of the warehouse, leans forward on his elbows. Belial's current 'form' is that of a business man's, all angular features and a dangerous-looking visage. A dim light bulb high up in the ceiling, the only one that worked, casts a gray sheen over everything in the warehouse, including the fearful-looking man who walked through the disused entranceway. The demon folds his hands, waiting, smelling the fear wafting from the cautiously advancing figure like a sweet, pungent odor. It is quite ironic to the demon to see the once proud and swell-headed principal of a school, a man of authority and duty, quivering in his shoes in his presence but here for a purpose against his calling. Humans were worthless creatures, but quite amusing he had to admit.

"So, you've accepted my invitation," Belial says in a voice like a razor's edge. "Do you have the information?"

"Y-yes sir. I do," the thin, lanky man languidly steps closer to the table.

"Please, sit," the disguised demon motions with his hand to a rickety chair across from the table.

"No really sir, I'd rather just st-"

"_Sit,"_ Belial slowly lowers his extended hand to the table, and, to the principal's dismay, he lowers into the chair at the same time. The startled man looks around, confused. He pulls up his suitcase of classified school files, each of which contained the phone numbers, addresses, etc. of every student that went to the school Belial and his companion had raided yesterday.

"D-Do you have the money?" he asks shakily.

"Of course," the shape shifter pulls out a perfectly untouched silver case, the light glinting off of it's smooth surface reflecting in the thick lenses of the principal's glasses. While vaguely wondering why someone would pay so much money for a few student files and speculating the consequences of his actions, the greedy man soon forgets his fear, his eyes flickering eagerly to the case like a weasel.

The demon runs his hand once over the case, then the suitcase of files and the case of the money is exchanged. Trying not to show his growing eagerness, Belial waits until the selfish human snatches the case up, nods to him, and steps away into the panther-coat night outside like a weak, bending willow. When the last vestiges of the human disappears, the shape changer snaps his fingers and the suitcase unlocks obediently. He flips through each file hurriedly, the faces of young adults rushing past at a speed that would've gotten a speeding ticket were a cop nearby. Belial nears the end the files and bangs his fist loudly on the table, causing many of the dust-crusted windows to shudder in place. With one swipe of his hand, the files flutter to the floor like broken, flightless gulls.

Belial, angered, listens to the silence of the warehouse, breathing heavily. As he listens intently, he notices that it is not his breathing that stirs the still air. Looking up, he sees a large, black Rottweiler eyeing him from the boarded-up entranceway, it's rippling muscles outlined with moonlight and it's pink tongue lolling in and out of it's bear-trap jaws. Oddly, the moonlight hits it's pupils in such a way that makes them gleam red.

"_Diablo's spies…"_ Belial whispers harshly.

The dog gives a slight _huff_ and turns away, nails clicking against the pavement outside…

* * *

Well, so ends chapter 19! Once again, it was short when I read it and after all that work! Gah... Anyway... Yes, I know you're all thinking, 'Great, now I have to wait another millennia for the next chapter.' If you've ever had this doubt in mind… then you must be _psychic!_ Yay! Anyway, I'll try and see what I can get to. School can really eat up time. Anyways, please review and vote for your favorite character if you haven't already! Yay! Thankies! Peace homies! 

Salem: 3 (+997)

Brian: 5 (+996)

Selena: 4

Derek: 5

Kyra: 5

Rika: 4

Melvin: 4

Tyrael: 11

Hadriel: 0

Izual: 0

Azmodan: 0

Belial: 0

Moogle: 1

Hobo Guy: 10 (Lol!)


End file.
